Round 4: Russia 2016: Preview

Greetings Internet, 

As this little island continues to pretend to reenact winter, the championship travels to the far end of Europe to the former home of the winter olympics in Russia. For the first time the start of the European season begins in Sochi having traditionally being held in Spain with the occasional trip to Turkey back when Istanbul featured on the calendar. Here at an equally wintery blog HQ the past couple of weeks have been rather problematic in terms of productivity - a dress rehearsal and a almost continuous week of rehearsals meant that is wasn't feasible to craft a report on the Chinese GP, which was again another entertaining installment of the unfolding championship. The bonus points for which will be added to this introductory post. But before we begin there is a slight problem with blog HQ's coverage of the Russian GP, and that problem is that I shall be in Nottingham throughout the weekend and thus will be rather unlikely to catch up with the races live on the day. Furthermore there will certainly be no time for any write-ups, not that they are any good to begin with - so things might not go to plan. I shall have to figure out what I am going to do with points and stuff over the course of the weekend, while at the same time avoiding finding out who won. 

The News

In the past weeks the arguments that dominated the opening couple of races have finally subsided, for the time being, and instead discussions have been redirected towards the rule changes for 2017. With several deadlines coming and then going without these rules and design regulations being set in stone, the time needed to develop cars to meet the specifications continually ebbs away. The problem is that with the teams being significantly involved in the process, each of them will want to engineer the rules closer to their own strengths. Red Bull wanting more downforce, and Mercedes wanting engine stability and probably more power - and at the same time Pirelli are outlining their requirements for the tyres capable of withstanding the forces of a breed of faster race cars. We know some of the criteria the team have to build to - 2m wide cars with 'aggressive' aesthetics and wider tyres. What that will actually look like is a matter of debate. 

For example in winter testing the first concept design of a head protection device dubbed 'The Halo' demonstrated by Ferrari - now Red Bull have stepped into that arena with their own creation "The Aeroscreen". This new creation is effectively a large visor glued in front of the cockpit, creating a solid barrier between the driver and any debris. While the device has obvious greater protective potential, it also presents the possibility for greater visibility problems. Oil, water and general dirt can accumulate on the screen and the driver doesn't have the ability to clear it himself. Special coatings can help reduce the problem but probably not eliminate it. Being a Red Bull creation I can imagine that the Aeroscreen will have been designed with any aerodynamic advantage in mind likely having a much larger impact on handling than the Halo. Test videos posted by Red Bull have illustrated that the screen can withstand the impact of a loose wheel or debris hit at high speed without deflecting too much or shattering. The only concern is that in a test with a loose wheel, after the initial impact the wheel still brushed the top of the driver's helmet - some minor changes may improve the ability of the screen to push large debris away from the car.

The Venue

Sochi is now entering it's third season as an entry in the calendar and the previous two races have been polar opposites in terms of levels of entertainment and competition. In the first incarnation of the race, Hamilton drove to an uncontested victory in a race which was dubbed the most boring event of the year. In contrast the second attempt was far more entertaining, there was good racing, a safety car intervention, and then another one later. A three way last lap fight for the podium involving a collision and an underdog taking home the silverware - one of the best races of the year. So when it comes to round three... who knows what to expect. 

The track itself isn't going to go down in history as one of the most inspired layouts - with a lot of generic repetitive corners and enough tarmac run-off to land a passenger jet in. In the build up to the weekend several drivers were remarking that the space offline is a little excessive, and will undoubtedly be abused throughout the race weekend... especially at turn two and across the final couple of corners. 

However the track does have the odd unique feature, the most notable of which being the enormous turn three - which saw Grosjean bounce off the wall in last years race. Also the technical braking area after the long back straight has been known to present an interesting challenge - a challenge that caught Carlos Sainz Jnr out in FP3 last time as he plowed into the barriers.

A couple of changes have been made to the track to minimise some of the difficulties with the track, the first of which being the excessive run off space on the exit of turn two. Astroturf has been placed on the other side of the curb so that drivers will at least be fractionally inconvenienced when cheating. The other changes are to curb heights at other locations and updates to the barriers that Sainz buried himself under at the end of the second sector.

The Form Guide

Well as a result of many things, all of which can be generally described as laziness this post is happening after the first two practice sessions. Which means you, and I already know what the rough running order its, and it is almost identical to how it was in China. Mercedes have a comfortable lead and Ferrari are the nearest rivals - it is estimated that in the cooler temperatures predicted for the coming days in Sochi, that their advantage will only grow. As to which of the two drivers will come out on top - who knows Rosberg comfortable lead FP1 and then Hamilton comfortably lead FP2 so neither is really showing their hand yet. 

The middle of the pack once more looks magnificent - Williams, Red Bull and the vast majority of the mid-field are not too far away from one another which means that the chances of a repeat of the Chinese GP in terms of action are reasonable good - more so if we drop a Ferrari or Mercedes to the back. Even McLaren seem to be getting amongst the times near the points positions which is promising for their continued improvement. Toro Rosso and Force India seem to be the two teams towards the bottom of this mid-field group, but with reasonable straight line speed - more so for Force India - they could recoup some of the places lost in qualifying. All in all this group of cars might make up the bulk of the entertainment on Sunday.

At the back of the field the bottom four teams are starting to slip slightly from the core of the mid-field. Renault and Haas remain only just within sight of those teams in front mostly in the hands of their lead drivers, but in FP2 the two teams engineered a sort of no-mans land between the main midfield and the back of the grid runners closer to the latter than the former. Just behind them we have Sauber and Manor propping up the final rows of the practice grid. A new chassis for Nasr has him comfortably beating Ericsson and the two Manor drivers. At this stage Haryanto is out pacing his highly rated team-mate but Pascal did end FP2 with a technical issue.

Bonus Points that should have been Bonus Points a fortnight ago

As I mentioned earlier, it has been a busy time with one thing and another so the points for China race day were not listed. So without even more delay to proceedings - here are the results following that event

• 25pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Loses at tyre when in the lead, gets caught out by the safety car and still finishes in fourth place a great drive
• 18pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Dropped to the back on lap one, and finishes ahead of the other driver in the same spot despite a slower car
• 15pts - Daniil Kvyat - An opportunistic start caught Vettel by surprise and was completely unphased when the German complained before stepping onto the podium.
• 12pts - Lewis Hamilton - Started last, made contact on the first lap, was last again and still finished with points
• 10pts - Felipe Massa - Put up a strong defence against Hamilton as he attempted to carve through the field
• 8pts - Nico Rosberg - A crushing albeit unopposed victory, has to be worth some points
• 6pts - Pascal Wehrlein - After the safety car the Manor driver was running 4th... in a Manor. Yes it was just track position due to strategy but he held onto places better than Rio did on the restart
• 4pts - Sebastian Vettel - Lost several places at the start and still finished second, and the rant pre-podium was brilliant
• 2pts - Rio Haryanto - Wasn't last at the end of the race, finishing ahead of Jolyon Palmer's Renault
• 1pt - Esteban Gutierrez - Well done for finishing... well done...

Round 3: China 2016: Qualifying

Greetings Internet, 

Well the old format of qualifying has returned following some unfavourable attempts at getting the elimination format off the ground in Australia and then again in Bahrain we have the most exciting grid of the championship thus far. To some extent that wasn't a factor of the format but due to technical difficulties beyond anyone's control. But of all the race weekends to step away from the version of qualifying that we were stumped with since the start of the year, this one proved to be far better served by the reinstated configuration. A session that featured two red flag interruptions would have caused mayhem under the elimination format, because drivers would be forced to the pits during the clean up. On the restart there isn't enough time for drivers to drive an outlap and then a flying lap before being counted out. So on balance not only do we have a highly anticipated grid for tomorrow's race, but we also had an entertaining session and the best one of 2016 - which included a battle for pole between two teams for once.

That rain which was forecast for Saturday did arrive, but only in FP3 and then again after the final part of qualifying had been completed - the track itself throughout the afternoon was dry. With the exception of two patches underneath the giant bridges over the main straight as they were shielded from the wind and water leaking from the towers continually replenished the puddles.

Q1

With the damp patches, several drivers played it safe by starting the session on the intermediates rather than a slick option, others on the other hand were feeling a little bit braver. Those taking the brave pills included the two Manor drivers - while Mercedes being less risky... although Hamilton radioed that there was a problem with his engine. It turned out to be a problem that would prove terminal for his car, demoting him to the back of the grid. Another car facing

problems was the Manor of Pascal Wehrlein who bounced off the wall on the main straight. A replay showed that Pascal hit a bump in the middle of the first puddle with the DRS open - a combination of these things caused the German to lose control of the car and visit the barrier. A red flag was thrown and a comedic display of Chinese marshals appearing to attempt to clear the puddle with a carpet commenced...

Several minutes later the session restarted and everyone decided that the intermediates were of no real use... and they also decided to avoid using DRS when crossing the first puddle (the one that wasn't cleared up at all by the carpet). Jenson Button later pointed out that the carpet truck was bizarrely parked in the run-off area at the final corner. With the back row now decided, the battle for relegation was between Renault and Sauber - Haryanto was the only running car predictably locked into the relegation zone. Nasr was the first to escape and Renault tried to respond with both cars and only Magnussen was able to cling onto a Q2 place... Until Ericsson came along and demoted the second Renault along with Gutierriez for Haas. 

Q2

Moving into the second part of qualifying and with Hamilton out, Rosberg in the remaining Mercedes tried something a little different - using the soft tyres rather than the super-softs. If Nico could make it in to Q2 on these tyres he'd gain an advantage at the start of the race with a longer stint while the others have to stop earlier. Rosberg's time on the soft tyres initially looked vulnerable to those on the faster option, but when the main contenders tried to challenge it started to look a lot safer. Ricciardo came within three tenths of Nico's time and the Ferrari pairing of Kimi and Vettel were only able to go a couple of tenths faster than the Mercedes despite having tyres which were supposed to be almost a second faster on this circuit. In the relegation zone things were close, and populated with drivers who thought they could make it into Q3 with a final run later on. McLaren were aiming for the final part of qualifying as was Felipe Massa currently in relegation after a mistake on his first lap.

But there was a slight problem, just as everyone barring Rosberg and the Ferrari's headed to the track with fresh tyres for a final charge - the session was stopped again. A stoppage that particularly annoyed Fernando Alonso on his return to the championship following his shunt in Melbourne who vented his frustration down the radio once the red flags came out. The reason behind this stoppage was Nico Hulkenberg's Force India which took to the circuit with one wheel incorrectly fitted, a wheel that obediently parted company on the exit of turn four and rolled down the road. In order to collect the car, and the errant wheel the session was stopped with just over a minute remaining, and was not restarted. This trapped the McLarens, Massa and Grosjean in relegation but was good for Toro Rosso and Force India who got both cars into Q3.

Q3

With the old format reinstated ten cars get to play for the pole position instead of eight under the less old elimination version, but only nine were able to compete as Hulkenberg's three wheeled car was unable to join the party. Of the front runners it was Rosberg the first to set a time easily brushing aside the opening times set by Perez and the Toro Rosso's and into a provisional lead. But the time on the super-soft tyre was slower than his time on the soft tyre in Q2 and was naturally vulnerable to attack from the two Ferraris. An attack they certainly capitalised on, initially only with Raikkonen's car, and with Nico vulnerable the Finn found more pace and took provisional pole. Vettel on the other hand was holding back for a single flying run at the end of the session.

When the second runs started it was Daniel Ricciardo who stole the limelight by driving the underpowered Red Bull to provisional pole with an exceptional lap dropping Nico off the front row. Vettel couldn't compete with his former team-mate's lap nor his current team-mate's one but was able to out-pace Rosberg. Raikkonen also failed to improve as both Ferrari's out braked themselves in the final hairpin after setting sector times which could have challenged for pole. After being dumped down to 4th place, Rosberg had plenty of room for improvement. Nico was able to make ground when others didn't quite get the job done and found a sizable chunk of time to retake pole position meaning that Mercedes bookend the entire field.

The Bonus Points Championship

The first conventional qualifying session of the year becomes deserving of all the bonus points unlike the mess that was the Australian qualifying session and the winners from this part of the weekend are as follows.

• 10pts - Daniel Ricciardo - A brilliant front row performance for the Red Bull with a lap no-one saw coming 
• 8pts - Marcus Ericsson - A very impressive lap in Q3 to get out of relegation move a long way into safety 
• 6pts - Kimi Raikkonen - The lead Ferrari driver for once after being largely shadowed by Vettel recently
• 5pts - Nico Rosberg - A clever Q2 strategy could make the race very easy for Nico... depending on how the start works out
• 4pts - Valtteri Bottas - After a slow start to the weekend for Williams, Valtteri has made a good job of qualifying - add a good start and another car in the mix at turn one.
• 3pts - Sergio Perez - A strong Q3 showing plus an impressive save crossing the same bump that fired Wehrlein into the wall.
• 2pts - Haryanto/Wehrlein - Get a couple of points each for being the first drivers to try slicks on in the first part of qualifying when the puddles were biggest. It just didn't work for Pascal
• 1pt - Hulkenberg's Left Front Wheel - Stayed off the racing line and tidied itself up after parting company with the car

• -1pt - The Chinese Marshals - The  approach of drying the track with a carpet tied to a pick-up truck was less than ideal and a terrible waste of time. Especially considering that it was a combination of a bump, the damp and the DRS which caused Wehrlein's crash.

Looking to Tomorrow

The Chinese GP grid is set up for a very entertaining race, we have a Mercedes off the back of the pack and one at the front which may be vulnerable off the line on harder tyres than those around him. So the opening stint of the race could be very interesting - a quick start for Ferrari or Bottas could lead to six cars all fighting over the lead into the first corner. After this strategy becomes a big factor - Rosberg will be running longer and might find himself driving off into the distance and on for a sixth straight win. But I doubt it is going to be quite as simple as that, in fact I hope it isn't going to be as simple as all that either. 

Round 3: China 2016: Preview

Greetings Internet, 

It is that time of week again where I - an unimportant peasant of the internet pollute your screens, or at least a small portion of it as you scroll past to find something more amusing... likely involving cats. But for those brave (or just lost) souls who have ended up on this page, intentionally or otherwise I welcome thee to the opening post for the third round of the championship. A championship which has seen more fighting off the track and in meeting rooms than it has on the racing surface which in turn has seen quite a bit of entertainment to begin with. At least one of the major arguments has finally been put to bed in the form of qualifying - where after weeks of of 'discussions' and meetings where increasingly mad suggestions started to bubble to the surface some common sense appears to have prevailed. Alas as one argument peters out, there are plenty more waiting in the wings to take to the stage and although we might be safe from more qualifying changes for a while - bigger plans may be afoot for 2017. Hopefully that will also be set aside for at least one race this weekend China - although we might not actually have much of a race given some mid-week developments.

 The News

The first point of order naturally is the row over qualifying. After it failed in Melbourne there was a meeting - that meeting decided to bin the old format and go back to the 2015 rules. One week later, that decision was reversed as everyone was informed such a option was not acceptable and so the elimination format remained. In Bahrain the format failed again, although arguably slightly less so in Q3, and so there was another meeting - in which the idea of going back to the last format which worked was taken off the table at the beginning. At the time the only format which seemed to be gaining any traction was the idea of an aggregate qualifying. Here a drivers time would be aggregated from their two fastest laps in a session - but that would never have worked because under the elimination rules most drivers were only able to complete one lap before being eliminated. Finally after months of arguing someone must have gave in at the top and allowed the 2015 format as a selectable option, an option which was seized by everyone concerned. A few days later it was confirmed by the FIA that from the Chinese GP onward we will go back to the nice, simple and functional qualifying rules of 2015. So lets see how much difference it actually makes to the grid on Sunday.

Speaking of the grid, there will be a couple of changes to it - firstly Lewis Hamilton is entering the weekend knowing he has to drop five places due to a gearbox change. The gearbox was cracked when Bottas rammed him in Bahrain and the team decided that this race was the one where grid position mattered least and recovery from 6th at best would be easiest. This is down to the long back straight and strong DRS settings. The other change is the return of Fernando Alonso the McLaren driver was cleared to drive yesterday and following FP1 this morning was given permission to compete in the rest of the weekend. So last race's star rookie Vandoorne was free to complete the Superformula pre-season test instead... but I'm sure he'd rather be in the McLaren, even if it is a little slow and uncompetitive.

The Venue

The Shanghai circuit for this weekend's race is one of the polarising venues the ensemble of teams and drivers will deal with. Some folk think it is an evil scourge on the calendar made of corners that don't make sense cobbled together for the sake of symbolism rather than racing. Others think is isn't too bad - yet surprisingly in the era of engine dominance it has managed to produce decent races. Even if it does look as if the layout was pieced together out of left over bits of scalextric track, and you had to use up all the curved pieces. But in a new feature (one that probably won't last) blog HQ will examine the good and bad of the Chinese GP venue

The Good

Food, when struggling to wrap your head around the questionable design choices that have been made in Shanghai - the local food is probably a good distraction... if my local take away is anything to go by. Nothing like drowning your confusion in a oversized bowl of Salt & Pepper spicy fried chicken and egg fried rice, the thought of which will now make me rather hungry and afflicted with a craving for Chinese food. Aside from the culinary options there are parts of the track which are almost as appealing - turn one for example is quite nice, turn two is even tolerable... just. But turns three and four are needless and terrible. In fact most of the middle sector isn't bad at all and the final corner is rather nice - so there is something to look forward to on track and off it.

The Bad

Now I know I have already accepted turn one as being... acceptable - the majority of the opening sequence of corners can only be described as annoying. Yet at the same time they do get credit for being unique and they certainly are instantly recognisable - to those in the know that is. Print a picture of the Chinese GP layout and show it to my mother and ask her to identify it - I would get a very confused face in return. So on the whole I can't necessarily complain too much about the opening phase of the lap - just because it's not that entertaining when driving about in the simulator... However at the other end of the circuit we have what can only be described as an abomination, not quite on the same scale as the blasphemous "Bus Stop" chicane at spa, but quite bad. Turn 11 is made from the very fires of hell itself, it doesn't really serve that much of a purpose as an overtaking spot and is needlessly sharp. I'd be tempted to place a mirrored version of Magny-Cours "Nurburgring" chicane feeding into the long banked turn 12. Yes it would replace a potential overtaking zone with one that isn't, but it would be far more interesting. Besides the hairpins at either end of the lap provide plenty of overtaking as we have seen in previous years. 

The Form Guide

Well once again laziness has meant that this post is happening after the first day of practice, so we have a more reasonable idea of how things are going to play out. The traditional contenders are enjoying the top of the timesheets all to themselves - Mercedes lead FP1 and Ferrari lead FP2, hopefully meaning all four drivers will be closer going into qualifying tomorrow. Rosberg seems to have the edge over Hamilton this weekend, like he did in Bahrain before the tables turned on Saturday. But this time Lewis has a grid penalty to contend with and thus will be moved down the grid regardless of what happens, thus making Sunday more interesting. 

Beyond the top two teams, Ricciardo for Red Bull and Mad Max for the junior team were leading the cavalry charge for the rest of the pack with Sainz and Hulkenberg close at hand. This is a reasonably good omen for the rest of the weekend because the pace isn't grouped into team order - there is a mix up throughout the mid-field. The FP2 times were also quite closely matched in the central group of cars, a second covered Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso and Red Bull - which accounts for the points positions. 

This weekend Haas seem to be a little further off the pace than they were in Bahrain, mostly because Shangai does have more of a downforce oriented configuration and not one where the Ferrari engine can make up some of the chassis deficit. The same problem is causing Williams to fall to the lower end of the mid-field as well, and hurting Sauber even more as they struggle for finances. Sauber, Renault, Manor and Haas do seem to be forming a group at the bottom of the pack, and if the race doesn't see some bizarre strategies or inclement weather - points might be a little on the unlikely side for those teams. 

Speaking of the weather, the newly redressed qualifying format might be held in the wet this time as rain is predicted to hover around the circuit all day. Depending on when the clouds open up there may be a light drizzle or a more significant downpour, it is estimated that the bulk of the rain will fall after qualifying has finished but who knows. It will be the first time the teams have run a proper wet session this year, so it will be interesting to see how the relative pace changes - last year showed us that in the event of rain Red Bull moved forward while Williams fell back. Furthermore, what will Haas do in the rain - in NASCAR as soon as the rain falls the race is red-flagged so they might forget that here in F1, you drive about when it gets a bit damp. It is a relief on the whole that the new, old qualifying format has been re-instated, because elimination qualifying in the wet will probably end up being a disaster... more than it already was.  

Round 2: Bahrain 2016: Bonus Points Awards

Greetings Internet, 

Last weekend saw the first outside broadcast of the season, where I venture from the common haunt of Blog HQ and sit in front of a different TV... which when you think about it suddenly becomes notably less astonishing. But as a result there isn't really the time to complete a thorough and lengthy review, because as you might have guessed - painstaking compiling all those spelling errors, inaccuracies and general nonsense does take a long time. In some cases a substantial write up can take up to five hours to complete - even if most of it looks as if it could be composed by a drunken toddler (not that I've gone round getting toddlers drunk to confirm the comparison). So in the case of an outside broadcast or as may likely be the case later on in the season - delayed broadcasts - it isn't possible to spend that amount of time writing things up. Furthermore if I tried to cobble together something in a smaller, rushed timescale the result would be more pointless than Bernie's qualifying ideas. 

Which leads us in a roundabout way to this post - which is a bit of an experiment, and will probably be tailored over the coming races before it reaches a passable standard. Instead of rambling on about everything, I shall just declare the bonus points awards from the race so that the points table (which I know does actually need to be built this year...) remains intact. 

The Race

In short we had another decent one, with a start which saw the pole man falter... and then get rammed by a Finn this time, and battles throughout the field. The new concept of a wider range of compounds did create a variety of strategies, and encourage more track action as those strategies would occasionally converge. In addition to varied tyre choices, we had a race full of aerodynamic variability - both Red Bulls decided to shed a front wing endplate, while Force India took a more aggressive approach with Perez in losing 50% of the front wing in a collision with Sainz. Again Haas proved to be impressive - well the one with Grosjean driving anyhow (Gutierrez survived a Bahrain GP without flipping but broke down instead). But some of that performance can be explained by qualifying in the coveted 9th place grid slot - the first position with a free tyre choice. Alonso's replacement scored McLaren's first point of the year after Button's car also broke down... at least his made the grid unlike Jolyon Palmer and Sebastian Vettel whose machinery died on the formation lap.

In the end Rosberg won again - and again it was mostly down to Hamilton making a mess of the start. Kimi finished second and was outwardly ecstatic about it on the podium... and by ecstatic I mean the Finn had an expression displaying about as much enthusiasm as anyone watching qualifying. Lewis finished on the podium, showing that even when a Mercedes has the crap knocked out of it in the first corner and starts dropping carbon fibre all over the place... it is still faster than most other cars.

The Points

Moving swiftly on to the points scoring part of the agenda, and in an entertaining race these are the winners from the Bahrain GP

• 25pts - Stoffel Vandoorne - Brought in as a reserve driver for Alonso's crash in Australia, the Belgian collected McLaren's first points of the season and passed a number of people in the process. 
• 18pts - Pascal Wehrlein - A Manor fighting, and passing other cars on merit, what magic is this. Pascal using the upgraded package the team have with the Mercedes engine and Williams gearbox to the full. It will only take one slightly mad day and points will be on the cards for the first time since Bianchi's legendary efforts in Monaco. Efforts which saved the team and allowed them to become what they are today.
• 15pts - Romain Grosjean - Haas may have had some luck with Grosjean's car thus far, a free pit stop in Australia and prime grid position from a tyre choice perspective in Bahrain. But even considering that, a 5th place result is still very impressive, the car seems to be head-midfield material and Grosjean is getting results out of that.
• 12pts - Kevin Magnussen - Was forced to start from the pit-lane after the stewards threw the book at him earlier in the weekend. But despite this, and an underpowered car the Dane came to within 17s of claiming the final championship point.
• 10pts - Daniil Kvyat - Fell victim somewhat of the questionable qualifying format, but made a strong recovery during the race.
• 8pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Avoided the melee at the first corner and after a poor start - began he recovery drive carving his way back to second
• 6pts - Marcus Ericsson - Some really good defensive driving late in the race and feisty racing with team-mate Nasr. On the opening lap the two had a bit of a go at each other and the battler resumed later. 
• 4pts - Nico Rosberg - A 100% win streak thus far and five in a row now - could this mean that we might get a year long challenge between the two Mercedes cars... we can but hope.
• 2pts - Valtteri Bottas - A brilliant start... up until the point where he crashed into a mercedes that is...
• 1pt - Fernando Alonso - The man might not be driving, but he has plenty of time to deliver a verbal smack down to Sky's Johnny Herbert - and gets a point for it

• -1pt - Williams - Managing to drop from a reasonable double podium after the opening lap to an 8th and 9th place finish... bit of a balls up that one wasn't even without Bottas' penalty.
• -1pt - Bernie - Giving Bernie negative bonus points is starting to become a habit now but after the comments pre-qualifying he just kept going claiming that 'drivers shouldn't talk'

Next Up China

There have been two reasonable good races thus far, and I know a lot of people would like to see that continue through into the next race in Shanghai. I kind of expect it to be the sort of circuit that falls into Mercedes hands - as it was the source of their first victory in their return. But as we have seen thus far the start is very important, and Mercedes haven't got that quite right yet, so there might be room for an upset.

Elsewhere the middle of the pack remains closely bunched up and provides most of the entertainment, more so with McLaren, Haas, and Manor joining the party near the end of the points. So we might have something to look forward to in a couple of weeks. 

Round 2: Bahrain 2016: Pseudo-qualifying take 2

Greetings Internet, 

So despite the teams and drivers discarding the elimination format on an Australian morning we started this afternoon with exactly the same state of play facing us in Bahrain. However in some respects this iteration of the generally despised version of qualifying was bizarrely more tolerable than it was in Australia... well apart from Q2 which was as hopeless as it was last time. Naturally it still was far removed from the way things used to be, but potentially the fact there was a marginal improvement indicates that somehow a proper qualifying approach can be rescued from the depths of the elimination format. Of course there are some very significant limitations which would prevent those improvements from taking a real effect. These include tyre allocations, re-fuelling processes and the actual timings themselves. One thing that this second consecutive use of the format demonstrates that it has no real impact on mixing the grid up at the front of the field. All it can do is trap midfield cars out of position which is a long way from the actual evil master plan that Bernie had in mind.

Qualifying Part 1
So here we go again, the start of an elimination qualifying - and everyone queued up at the end of the pit lane waiting for the green light, the same green light that Magnussen will be faced with tomorrow as he has to start from the pit lane. Like we saw in Melbourne a little tussle for track position broke out at the front of the line as Raikkonen passed Hamilon out of turn one. But as normal in this mad new world of qualifying none of that actually matters because the attention is directed to the back of the field as the eliminations began. This started with Nasr and Haryanto being trapped at the bottom of the grid with no change of reply.

So Renault were next because they had enough time to fight back, Magnussen moved up but Palmer was less fortunate and ended up eliminated. Perez was next as Force India sent him out with not enough time to complete a lap, and just like Kvyat in Australia became the unfortunate victim of the new system. Where there are losers there are also winners, and in this case the big winner was Pascal Wehrlein on a giant killing mission of epic proportions, only a few tenths of breaking out of Q1. It is the highest qualifying position for any Manor driver since the rebranding 

Qualifying Part 2

Enthusiasm for the new system reached another all-time low when even the lighting system at the end of the pit lane refused to let the cars take to the track. Instead a well placed marshal found a green flag to get things underway... hurrah. The delay in releasing the field ate into the elimination time and resulted in a lot of drivers being left without a response after the first runs. Effectively only Hulkenberg had a chance to fight to improve his position. This was not good news for Grosjean - who after the first run had placed the Haas inside the top eight and poised for a Q3 position for the debut team.

Hulkenberg was able to beat Romain and thus drop the Frenchman into 9th place which under the new system becomes a very fortunate place to start the race. Becoming the first driver to have free tyre choice for the race tomorrow and might be in prime place for another points scoring run. At the front of the field Mercedes were finding that Ferrari were a lot closer than they expected and the middle of the pack was very closely matched so even if the second part of qualifying was about as lively as a morgue there is hope for tomorrow.

The grand finale of qualifying

This part of qualifying was the source of most concern after Australia because is it was a bit crap last time. This version was better by a little bit, but we still didn't have all the cars at the end of the session fighting for every place not just the ones at the very front. However the first runs in Q3 set up the second half to be very interesting. For a brief moment we had a Ferarri 1-2 because Hamilton slid wide in the final corner thus only setting the third fastest time. Third became fourth when Rosberg took provisional pole. 

Hulkenberg in 8th was eliminated before he completed his in-lap and the two Williams' had no time to fight back against Ricciardo's Red Bull. Because Daniel had no real competition from behind and no real hope of beating the top four he didn't come back out either. So one lap down and four cars effectively eliminated. 

At least there was a battle for pole this time as Hamilton fought back from the his unfortunate first run, and his next lap was devastatingly fast, and the fastest lap time of the Bahrain GP circuit ever... Rosberg tried to respond but fell 0.077s short of pole position, and we still ended up with the same top four as we had in Australia... Elimination qualifying certainly does produce mixed up grids at the front...

The Bonus Points Championship
Even though it was another daft qualifying session with this new format, I shall have to cave and give full points this time

• 10pts - Pascal Wehrlein - A giant killing performance, defeating both Renaults, both Saubers and a Force India
• 8pts - Stoffel Vandoorne - Alonso's replacement arrived in style by out qualifying his team-mate, world champion Jenson Button on his debut
• 6pts - Romain Grosjean - So close to making it into the final part of qualifying for the Haas team
• 5pts - Lewis Hamilton - The fastest ever lap deserves points, beating the records set in the V10 era demonstrating that the new cars may have smaller engines but can still be faster
• 4pts - Rio Haryanto - Even the other Manor out-qualified someone to place ahead of Nasr on the grid tomorrow
• 3pts - Valtteri Bottas - For taking to the track and setting a new faster lap in Q2 when no-one else felt the need to bother joining in
• 2pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Comfortably beating his team-mate and dragging Red Bull into the top five
• ,1pt - Mad Max Verstappen - Well done for not swearing today, well done you.

• -1pt - Bernie Ecclestone - For exclaiming that he was surprised that the drivers could read and write after the GPDA letter with is interview with Eddie Jordan
• -1pt - Jean Todt - For refusing to allow the drivers/teams the ability to vote to keep the older qualifying from last year persisting with the melee of this new format. 

Looking to Tomorrow

Well at the moment I don't know how tomorrow is going to play out especially in terms of blog HQ coverage with other things going at the time. But in terms of the race itself, some of it might be very interesting while other aspects might turn out to be far more mundane and far more traditional with the two Mercedes vanishing off into the distance. However if Ferrari can repeat their special trick off the start line, things might get very interesting indeed - and one hopes for interesting.

The middle of the pack however is very closely contested with lots of cars within a few tenths of one another on pace, in a race which hopefully won't be interrupted by a red flag intervention we might see a closer indication of the relative performances. We might also see a race where drivers have the ability to fight one another given the numerous overtaking options that the sakhir circuit offers. Hopefully the nocturnal venture proves to be another entertaining chapter in the early stages of this season. But with less injuries that is.

Round 2: Bahrain 2016 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

I know this was supposed to happen yesterday but, already even at this incredibly early stage in the season the ominous curse of laziness seems to found its way into blog HQ. So slightly later than billed I consider dealing with the fact that there is another race on the horizon... well slightly over the horizon considering that Bahrain is a considerable distance away from the this part of the world. Even so the second round of an already very turbulent and controversial championship has arrived and the hornets nest of angry drivers (not just grumpy teenager Mad Max) teams, and fans have descended into the middle of the desert for the Bahrain GP. There is another degree of irony involved in the ongoing turmoil throughout the paddock landing in Bahrain, a venue that was brought onto the calendar most likely for monetary reasons rather than sporting ones... Nevertheless the Sakhir circuit has provided some interesting racing in the past, and also some very dull and tiresome races with no scenery to look at instead. The transition to a night race does seem to have helped, whether the lower air and track temperatures encourage better racing on this particular surface or whether the drivers just seem to go a little bit mad when the flood lights come one. Either way here's to another hopefully enthralling installment in F1 2016... well maybe not the bit that happens on Saturday. 

The News

In the two weeks since the Australian GP, a lot of things have happened - in fact from various reports across the internet the whole world of F1 seems to be teetering on the very verge of a significant implosion. The catalyst for this whole argument was the debacle surrounding that failed qualifying session under the new, experimental 'elimination' format. Fans, drivers and team principles universally decided that the concept didn't work - in theory it would have been exciting but there were certain limitations in refuelling times, tyre changes and overall lap time that prevented it from doing to. Without considerably adjustments to the other rules and procedures it couldn't operate successfully. This was why an emergency meeting - conveniently timed with the TV broadcasts - was held to propose returning to the older tried and tested qualifying format. At the time it was unilaterally agreed that the older version would be reinstated from Bahrain onwards, and for a while things seemed settled...

But then things got a little angry it seems - the GPDA fired the first shot at FOM by publishing an open letter declaring the decision making process in F1 obsolete and ill-structured. It was a very bold statement pointing out that the decisions being made are leading the sport down the wrong path, something that us outsiders have noticed for a while, decisions that make it very difficult for smaller teams, pressing circuit owners for more higher race fees, and favoring venues in the middle of nowhere built on oil money. But the fact that those on the inside are now declaring enough is enough, is an interesting step in that debate. One of the things that the letter was aiming to point out was that the increased monetisation of coverage by handing a large amount of exclusivity to Sky TV was hampering sponsorship as the advertising space was worth less money. Less people can see the races so, less people see the adverts. 

In a direct example of the problem the drivers/teams/us poor fools are facing, in the space of 24hrs of this complaint letter being published - there was announcement that all UK TV coverage will soon be placed on paid TV. So this GPDA points out there is a deep and inherent problem, and instead of attempting to make things better the powers that be make another decision to further worsen the situation. At the time I was completely livid at this blatant disregard of the fanbase, the team's intentions and sponsorship opportunities. Here at Blog HQ have lucked into a fortunate situation by clinging onto Sky's legacy HD deal which included the F1 coverage but no other sports. But for everyone else outside of this - it becomes hideously expensive for 21 races, pricing so many viewers out of the equation. So sponsorship matters even less and smaller teams are further starved of the funding they need to go racing. Less than 10 years ago, cars were covered in sponsor logos because they knew their brands would be plastered over national TV every other weekend. Now this is just not the case... 

To rub salt into the wounds of the teams and drivers, the powers that be then announced only a few days later that the meeting which was held in Australia meant absolutely nothing. After deciding en masse to revert to the simpler and more effective qualifying format - it turns out Bahrain will use the elimination format... because reasons. I imagine it will be even worse this time around in some respects because the lap is longer, so the amount of time needed to pit for new tyres and try again increases... It appears that this elimination method is the only solution that Bernie and co will accept over his utterly ridiculous reverse grid method...

In other news

We will all likely remember the Australian GP of 2016 for the images of Fernando Alonso sailing through the air in his McLaren and smashing the thing to oblivion in his collision with Gutierrez. While we saw the indestructible Spaniard emerge from the wreckage almost instantly with only the smallest of limps, it has now later emerged that there was a little more damage lurking

beneath the surface. After returning home to Spain Fernando noticed that the natural discomfort from the shunt hadn't faded, and was instead getting worse - a visit to the doctor later discovered he had fractured ribs and a partially deflated lung. More scans in Bahrain this week have revealed that the injuries haven't completely healed and therefore would be vulnerable to severe damage in the event of another accident. So wisely it has been decided that Alonso will not race in Sakhir on safety grounds, and more CT scans will be performed ahead of the Chinese GP to make sure all is well.

This leaves McLaren one driver short, but fear not - they have a rather quick substitute up their sleeves to call upon in the form of Stoffel Vandoorne. The Belgian dominated the 2015 GP2 series and will compete in the Japanese Super Formula championship this year. If McLaren didn't have two world champions on the books this season the rookie would be first in line for a more permanent position, and I imagine the very moment that either Fernando or Jenson consider retirement - the open seat will be gift wrapped for Vandoorne.

Anyway back to Bahrain

On the day of arrival at the desert racetrack everyone was greeted with quite the anomaly... rain. Hailstorms and downpours made a surprising appearance on Thursday, but the conventional dry weather conditions will be making a more traditional return through the rest of the race weekend. Even though I doubt a monsoon or three would breathe any life into the monstrosity of qualifying we are likely to experience tomorrow.

Because this document is quite late the first practice session has been completed and Mercedes headed the field by a more than healthy margin. Almost two seconds clear of Ferrari - but in FP1 fuel loads, tyre choices and setup decisions make a large difference to the actual lap times, so not too much can be read into it at this stage. Even if Mercedes are repeating that dominant performance in the second practice at the moment - with Ferrari once again being the cars looking most likely to give chase. If the performance gap really is this large, then Sunday might not be as interesting at the sharp end of the field - unless we have a repeat of the epic Rosberg vs Hamilton tussle we had at the 2014 Bahrain GP. Alas most of me thinks that might be a tad unlikely.

Elsewhere however the field does appear to be quite close, with a lot of similar lap times between Williams, Toro Rosso and Red Bull - all of which are not a county mile behind Ferrari in that fight for 3rd place. McLaren showed average pace in FP1 but seem to have stepped it up a little bit for the second practice session and moved a little closer to the sharper end of the grid. What is interesting is that Manor... well just Wehrlein is able to set times comparable to Sauber and Renault, on softer tyres that is. But is does show that there are no real struggling back marker teams this season, as Manor can run to some extent with the tail end of the field. Haas seem to be solidly in the mid-field as FP2 enters its final phase so there could be some very interesting battles for points on Sunday even if the top step of the podium may be out of reach for anyone other than a Mercedes driver.

At the bottom end of the points battle will probably be Renault, Sauber and Manor - despite being similarly paced as one another and maybe Haas too, they could do with about half a second more to bring them in sight of a McLaren or Force India. It will come down to who gets caught out the most by the cursed elimination format or who has the most consistent race pace on Sunday.

There is of course one slight problem that may hinder Mercedes over the weekend, and that is there tyre selection. Ferrari have selected more of the medium compound tyre than Mercedes and if tyre wear happens to be higher following the rain shower washing any remaining residual rubber off the track then they might have to make more stops in the race. The sand blasted abrasive track surface may prove problematic, and of course these tyre choices were made last year, before Mercedes spent days testing the medium compound in Barcelona. But I suppose if Mercedes can crush the opposition on tyres they have done a lot less testing work on, then that is a truly ominous sign for the rest of 2016.