Now entering its sixth season,here at Blog HQ - The unimaginatively named and inconsistently produced corner of the internet intends to stagger into the 2016 season with more mockery and less sense.
But I'm going to knock that on the head before it starts, or my keyboard might end up wearing questionable shoes, large hats and dancing round in squares listening to country music. Because the newest venue has been unveiled in the big American state of Texas, which is famous for it's ranches and other old western cliches - kind of think I should be writing this up with a bottle of Sasparilla and shooting holes in the ceiling on the off chance it was feeling lucky. Dodgy stereotypes aside the Austin circuit is a completely modern facility specifically built for F1, like many of the other new tracks that have been erupting across the planet as Bernie perpetually wants to extend into new markets. However the states is not a new land for the series - we were last competing over there at the world famous Indianapolis motorspeedway, where the Indy 500 is held, but the infield track was for the most part pants. On the whole oval infield tracks generally are weaker due to the limitations of the outer track and the lack of undulation - but the Indy lap was a special case of dull plagued by two hideously pointless hairpins. On a first look the self proclaimed Circuit of the Americas is a massive amount better - and this time there shouldn't be 6 car races due to tyre failures.
During the two week break between here and the last chaotic race in Abu Dhabi not too much has happened in determining who gets to sit where when the contracts are completed before next season. But some hints have been dropped down at Sauber floating on, one would assume, a large quantity of money. As a rather influential investor in the team has implied that there will be two Mexicans on the grid next season, which would hint that Gutierrez is in the running to take Kobayashi's place in the team. Further upfront Vettel is rumoured to be secure at the team for the next five seasons, despite receiving some less than friendly comments from Jaques Villenueve - but the mad Canadian rants about most people so I wouldn't be too bothered about that. In the middle of the field Kimi's radio transmissions have become rather famous - the Lotus team have even printed T-shirts with "Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing" printed on them. Nice to see some people with a sense of humour, which wasn't the sort of responses the podium interview last time was met with, as complaints and fines were dished out at the end of such a mad race. But it is time to move on and look towards the US GP.
The Track
credit to the FIA for the map
On the surface it seems odd that America needed a brand new race track when the country has so many great tracks that would make for great races - makes you wonder how we ended up at Indy in the first place. With the likes of Road Atanta, Road America, VIR and Laguna Seca and many more available moving to Austin seems a little mad, but the problem is that these older tracks are built to fit the national championships and don't have the same safety standards that F1 requires. So that's why we have ended up here and the layout for the most part is a patchwork lap of stolen features from other tracks around the world, which in a sense is a little unimaginative, but on the other hand some of the new blank canvas tracks have been uninspiring Korea and Bahrain immediately come to mind.
The track is bounded by three peaks, each one with a hairpin perched right on the crest, making the braking zones blind and complex, hopefully leading to a flurry of overtaking and contact. The bottom hairpin - turn 11 - on the map seems to have crest in the middle of the braking zone, which means the car goes light trying to slow down for the corner causing lock-ups and visits into the scenery. Of course that could just be a factor of the beta version of the layout used for the video this weekend, because that may have certain inaccuracies compared to the actual lap.
Then there is the matter of the stolen corners, sector one is mainly a replica of the maggots/beckets sequence from Silverstone - which can't complain there, because its a good sequence of corners and it means they get visited twice in a season. Further round the lap, the designers have tried to import the stadium section from the Hokkenheimring - which out of all the corners in the world to borrow also comes across as a little odd. To make matters worse the imitation that they have attempted is disappointing at best, it looks forced and clumsy on the diagram and on the virtual lap were dull. I thought we had escaped the crap double hairpin problem at Indy to gain something similar here... and we were doing so well up until that point on the lap. The final stolen element it a diluted version of Istanbul's turn 8, instead of the mega quadruple apexed monster in Turkey, this is a tri-apexed interpretation. The central corner of the turn is barely noticeable but it tightens for the final phase making the sequence its own - which worked at the beginning of the lap but failed in the stadium.
When faced with a completely new venue unleashing the video is even more relevant, anything to boost audiences frankly - however the people at codemasters decided to release the new version of the official F1 game which contains the track. Therefore I don't exactly have any unique content, and the estimation of the track they have is probably more accurate than the rFactor one floating round the internet. Nevertheless it is brand new for the blogmobile and an exploratory voyage into the unknown, captured once more in full HD, which took three hours to add to youtube... but it was not like I had anything else to do.
What to Expect
As this is a new venue for all concerned I should open that question to the floor and sit back and watch the confusion but the lap doesn't demonstrate anything specifically quirky that would cause a major upset in the natural order of things. The quantity of aero-dependant corner sequences especially in the opening sequence of the lap will only help Red Bull continue the dominant pace they have shown in the final stages of the season. Something that doesn't bode too well for Alonso as the Ferrari's have been dropping back on single lap pace, unlike Abu-Dhabi this looks like a track which is more determined by car pace rather than driver pace. So therefore McLaren will be more of a threat to the blue machines than the Italian outfit, perhaps Fernando can pull some additional pace from the car is certainly plausible but to defeat the German bloke may be asking too much.
Just to make matters more complicated for the Ferrari challenge, the likes of Lotus and Sauber could well play a part in this race, based on their strong pace at Spa and Hungary which shares some characteristics with Austin. Conversely the same properties could hinder Mercedes even further - only serving to instil more confidence in the car Hamilton will be moving to next season as the silvers are surpassed by more of the mid-field on a race by race basis competing with Force India and Williams. Rosberg was even battling for position with the HRT he ultimately ran over at the early stages of the last race. As the middle teams become closer and more competitive any mistakes further forward guessing setup on in unfamiliar playing field could shake up the lower end of the points positions.
A problem that will not really affect the bottom three teams because they are not exactly in contention for some points, it would take a significant quantity of madness to take out enough cars to allow that to happen. From a purely neutral perspective I am all for that amount of madness, Abu Dhabi provided a decent amount of it, but a lot more will be needed to get Caterham on the board, and if HRT get a point that achievement would almost hand them the bonus point championship - and if that isn't incentive enough I have no idea what is. However the little team at the bottom of the grid seem to be looking for buyers and investment to make it to the 2013 grid, so we'll wait and see on that front.
Blog Predictions
After cars coming from the pit lane to the podium, and sporadic safety cars - trying to make any kind of prediction completely fell apart last race, and this time in a new environment with no historical data to work off the chances of scoring any points are even more limited.
Vettel
Hamilton
Alonso
Webber
Raikkonen
Button
Grosjean
Massa
Perez
Hulkenberg
Qualifying
Red Bull - Vettel
Ferrari - Alonso
McLaren - Hamilton
Lotus - Raikkonen
Mercedes - Rosberg
Sauber - Kobayashi
Force India - Hulkenberg
Williams - Senna
Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
Caterham - Kovalainen
Marussia - Pic
HRT - De La Rosa
This weekend is a big step into the unknown, we have no idea how the track is going to perform or how the racing is going to play out as there have been no support races before this weekend to gauge whether the raised hairpins work as a concept. In the blogmobiles I was lapping in around 1:44s which is traditionally 10s off the pace off the actual times. So on that basis I can roughly estimate that laptimes will be somewhere around 1:30-33s across the weekend, and we'll see how close that guess comes when FP1 starts tomorrow afternoon. A new track always brings a large amount of anticipation and excitement, so I can only hope that the Circuit of the Americas lives up to that to produce another thrilling instalment in this late stage of the championship.
Well, well, well - frankly we needed something like that to take place after two fairly dull races by comparison to the rest of the season, and considering the outlook for the race wasn't too promising the outcome was very impressive. It was a very similar story back in Valencia - comparisons were even made between the two track - we had a race peppered with the safety car, and decided by more mechanical failures. As soon as the lights came up and night began to fall the madness started to begin, and here at blog HQ, we like madness something that fits in with the general ethos of this part of the internet. Plans were set in motion for today's entertaining race last night, in the stewards room, because that German bloke - the one who keeps winning was demoted. Sending him to the very back of the grid in 24th place, a mile away from the 3rd place the car was supposed to line up at the start. It turned out that after stopping the car at the end of Q3, the car was deemed to be in violation of a fuel infringement - the same thing that got Hamilton excluded in Spain.
This lead to an interesting prospect, where the championship leader was a long way down the grid and his main rival was sitting in the top 6 - poised wonderfully, and the rest of the race certainly disappoint. It does strike me as a little odd that the two most enthralling races of the season have occurred on tracks where overtaking is considered minimal and the initial prospects on the night before haven't been too promising - it was the same thing with Hungary last season. Texas does have a lot to live up to in the coming fortnight, something that the blog will certainly be looking forward too on the basis of today's race.
Image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk
The Race
In the light of Vettel's grid penalty the team elected not to pull the car up at the back of the grid for the race, instead they opted to start from the pit-lane with a view of avoiding any opening lap contact at the start. This also allowed Red Bull to make adjustments to the car and lengthen the gears to accommodate the DRS, which being behind everyone was going to be important, so all in all was a good call. The German bloke was soon joined at the bottom of the pit lane by Pedro De La Rosa whose car didn't get away off the line for the formation lap and would also start from the pits.
Everyone else lined up in order - readjusted for the Vettel penalty - ready for the start of the race, starting at the short run from the line down into turn one. It was a run that seemed longer for Webber as he got off the line a little slower that he would have liked, losing a position to a fast starting Raikkonen on the inside. Hamilton was clear and safe out front and unopposed into the first corner. It turned out that starting from the pits was the safest idea as the two Force India's got together trying to fit four wide before the corner. Bruno Senna tried to steer around the damaged car of Hulkenberg but got span round on the run-off and was able to continue - Hulkenberg however was out. On the exit of the corner Button and Massa ran two wide through the sweeping corners before Jenson took the place into the chicane - you'd think if the previous races were anything to go by we would be settled for the race now; not this week.
Only half way round lap one Grosjean and Rosberg tried to fit two cars through the turn 8 chicane - inevitably there was contact as the Mercedes front wing clipped Romain's front tyre. So at this point we had Di Resta, Grosjean and Rosberg all trundling round with damaged cars heading to the pits. More free places for Vettel who was scything past the lower end teams, two at a time in places down the straight, sometimes a little too optimistic - trying to pass a recovering Senna and Charles Pic before turn 8, as a result Vettel became the second car to hit the back of Bruno's car trimming parts of his front wing in the process. Which lead to Adrian Newey to stare at the spare wing in the pits as it was brought in an out of the garage. At the same corner Alonso and Webber demonstrated how it should be done, leading to the pair running two wide down the straight rather close before Alonso swept round the outside to take the place.
A moment of weakness from Hamilton at the front of the race, as he ran wide in turn 8, where all the action was taking place in the opening laps of the race, which would move a little further down the track later on in the race. Raikkonen had a look at capitalising on Lewis' mistake but was unable to pass the McLaren, and Hamilton was able to drive away from the Lotus in second while everyone else was catching up to the back of Maldonado in third. Back on Vettel watch and the German took two more places from Petrov and Glock in the same corner - clearly all those additional wing elements didn't make too much difference to the speed of the car moving up into 14th place. A progression which was being helped by Schumacher who was backing up a queue of cars in front of the German bloke.
The camera then cut to a scene of devastation, shards of carbon fibre everywhere and a single lone wheel rolling to a halt, buried in the far barrier was the Mercedes of Rosberg with a broken HRT in the middle of the corner. Several replays later and a picture of the accident fell into place. Nico who was out of position from early wing damage, caught Karthikeyan mid corner before the hotel. Caught out be the speed difference between the two cars Nico crashed into the back of the HRT and went up and over the car to quite a height. His rear wheels straddling Narain's head in the flight, the right rear hitting the chassis in a similar place to where Grosjean hit Alonso in Spa. Both drivers were able to climb out of their ruined cars, while the safety car was called into action.
It had been a hectic start to the race, so perhaps under the safety car things might be a little more controlled. Well apparently not, as Daniel Ricciardo's tyre warming strategy on the back straight seemed a little too erratic for Sebastien Vettel who had to take avoiding action to miss the Toro Rosso ploughing through the DRS marker board, adding more damage to the front wing. The spare wing in the Red Bull pit garage was brought out again, and was sent back, and then brought out again to be applied to Vettel's car. That little piece of carbon fibre had covered more metres than Hulkenberg had done today, but the German bloke was down at the back again - although we were missing some cars by this stage, and crucially had made the mandatory tyre change in the process.
At the restart Hamilton lead away from Raikkonen and Maldonado, a little side from Fernando on the final corner allowed Webber alongside but was unable to complete the position. But the initial moves went once more to Vettel passing Di Resta and De La Rosa at the back of the train of cars before heading after Grosjean in the Lotus. After several laps of easily drafting past slower cars this was the first actual battle for Vettel as Romain was out of position following an early collision, Sebastien initially made the pass when running three wide with Timo Glock's Marussia. But the Lotus repassed him on the exit of the turn 8/9 chicane. Then we have the problem of the overuse of tarmac run-off space, it allowed Vettel to drive past off the circuit, and therefore had to relinquish the place, only to take it back again a lap later.
Were we now going to have some time to at least figure out what had been taking place so far, but as some of the replays filtered through the race took another stark development as the leading McLaren of Hamliton grinds to a halt. The second time mechanical dramas have taken Lewis out of a dominant winning position - therefore the lead was passed to Raikkonen who was pulling away from Alonso behind. It was Maldonado who was running out tyres and speed further back, having already see Fernando drive past in the DRS zone, Webber was on the attack. However as a result of not quite having the same speed advantage of the Ferrari - when Mark tried the same move he didn't quite clear the Williams on turn in and was pitched into a spin. It was Button's turn to pass the Williams and chose the inside of turn 11 compared to the other drivers and made the pass stick without contact.
Webber found himself behind Felipe Massa after the little spin, who was also falling back on wearing tyres, at the end of the second DRS section Mark was in position make a pass, and had on decision - inside or outside. Given how well the latter worked last time perhaps a different approach might have been better, but apparently not. Webber went to the outside and bumped wheels with the Ferrari and went out wide, on returning to the track Massa took avoiding action and clipped an inside curb throwing the car into a spin. Having survived two clashes Webber now found Vettel closing in behind running now in seventh place, as other drivers started to make their pit-stops. By virtue of stopping early Vettel was able to stay out as everyone changed tyres, but was faced with the prospect of running most of the race on the same soft compound set. At the end of the cycle the German bloke was in second behind Raikkonen and ahead of championship rival Alonso - which must have been a little disorientating. It was all quiet out front however, but not as quiet as Raikkonen wanted it to be, updates on the gap to Fernando were waved off as Kimi effectively instructed the team to shut up as he knew what he was doing and frankly didn't care too much.
After 30 laps of all kinds of contact and cars sailing through the air things did calm down a bit as the stops had worked their way through the field and the cars that were out of position had cycled further forward. For example Di Resta and Senna who were involved in the first lap crash, were running with Grosjean another opening lap victim in the middle of the points, alongside Webber who'd hit a few people as well. Of the group it was only Perez who hadn't made contact at some point in the race so far. The problem was that Grosjean was leading the little train in the middle of the points and was there on virtue of making his tyre change on lap one after hitting Rosberg. This meant those tyres were very worn and the cars behind were quite a lot faster - forming a train that lead from 5th place, all the way back to Kobayashi and Schumacher at the far end of the top ten.
Looking at the speed of Grosjean, Vettel could see where his tyre life was going to end up as there were only 12 laps between their early stops, on that basis he decided it was a good time to come in - and in fact it turned into a very good time to come in based on where he was expected to rejoin. The timing sheet indicated Sebastien would rejoin in the middle of the Grosjean train, which may not have been too helpful - if only something was to happen to all those cars to slow them down. A thought which must have been telepathically communicated to One-Stop Perez, who was becoming a little impatient in the queue, as it is not something that is done all that often in Mexico. Therefore deciding to add to the amount of chaos the race had seen already - so lets try and break this little incident down
...It all started with Grosjean running wide in turn 8 allowing Di Resta go get a run on the Lotus down the next straight, pulling Perez along as well. Sergio braked round the outside of the Lotus and just kept going until he as also round the outside of the Force India of Di Resta. However he quite far alongside enough to complete the pass before the next chicane, and the two cars tried to get through side by side. Perez forced Di Resta off the track in the middle of the chicane and ran wide on the exit. This created a gap in the traffic where Grosjean positioned his car, which became a problem as Perez rejoined into the side of the Lotus and was turned around this ruined Grosjean's suspension on one side. Next in the queue was Webber and had nowhere to go when presented with a damaged Lotus in his way, as a result he made contact with Romain and ripped the rear wheel off the car, with veichles stranded on the track it was time for the safety car again - cancelling out Vettels second stop.
It took a while to clear away the debris, and eliminated all of Raikkonen's lead, so how were things on the Lotus pit wall - Kimi was instructed to keep the tyres warm, and responded saying "Yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm doing all of that. You don't have to remind me every single time". As it happened he did know what he was doing and drove away from Alonso on the second restart, while Fernando had Button and Vettel for close company in a duel for the podium. The fact Vettel was even in that category was impressive, if not rather lucky catching the two safety cars at the right time. A third victim of the accident that caused the safety car emerged as Schumacher was forced to pit with a puncture. While Perez was handed a 10s stop-go penalty for causing the crash and pushing Di Resta off for good measure.
With a fair few cars eliminated by this stage or running well down the order after surviving the various accidents everything seemed to calm down a lot and the race turned into a pressure based challenge rather than more madness. Because as Vettel was applying pressure to Button for third, Alonso was allowed to escape and begin the hunt for Raikkonen in the lead, several seconds down the road. The only other action elsewhere was Schumacher passing Vergne for 11th after replacing the flat tyre. Running under the radar was Kobayashi in sixth position one of the few mid-field cars that hadn't hit anyone or been involved with anything and was on for some points as a result. The attrition had also brought Senna into the points having been hit twice in the opening two laps, and in the remaining five laps had comfortable gaps to retain the positions.
Things were less secure up front, as Alonso was setting fastest laps and trimming the gap down to Raikkonen - aiming to get inside the DRS zone. It was much closer to between Vettel and Button - aside from Grosjean early on it was the first car the German bloke had trouble passing, but Jenson's defence couldn't hold against Sebastien and the Red Bull was able to get alongside on the second part of the back straight. Hanging on round the outside of turn 11 and took the place through the chicane - something that Perez and Di Resta didn't manage to sort out among themselves a little earlier. So Vettel was now on the podium from starting in 23rd from the pit lane, only ahead of Pedro De La Rosa's HRT, not bad when you look at it. Further ahead however Alonso was much closer to Raikkonen, only hundredths away from having the power of the DRS at his disposal.
With one lap to go it seemed the life had started to fade from Fernando's tyres as he dropped back from Kimi's Lotus and the gap remained as the Finn crossed the line to claim his first win since the comeback. Alonso followed him home, only to find Vettel was the next car across the line, so only pulled back five points in the run for the title. The fact that the two main contenders were on the podium nullified any advantage Kimi took for the win and falls out of the championship hunt. Back in fourth was Button, his lowest finishing position in Abu Dhabi ahead of Maldonado in a distant fifth. Kobayashi avoided everyone to take sixth place and possible help retain his seat at Sauber for 2013. Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna recovered from various incidents to finish 7th and 8th along with Paul Di Resta completing the train of cars who have had a rather interesting afternoon. And the final world championship point goes to Vettel's best friend at the moment Daniel Ricciardo.
At the end of the race Kimi was congratulated on the radio for taking Lotus' first win in the rebranded format and merely responded with the fact that this was his job after all - we've missed this level of hilarious apathy from the Finn in his absence. Even with the chequered flag having been waved to end the race, the madness continued onto the podium where DC's interview with Kimi was interesting and then Vettel joined in with the profanities and poured the rose water all over Coulthard A crazed end to the maddest race of the season. All summed up in the following video:
The Bonus Points Championship Points winners
Well after a race with so many twists and incidents where on earth are the points supposed to be handed. So after much deliberation - mostly with myself since the cat wasn't contributing too much to proceedings, even after getting points in India - these are the results of the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
25pts - Sebastien Vettel - 23rd to 3rd including replacing a front wing was a brilliant performance, even though Button was the only tough pass of the day.
18pts - Kimi Raikkonen - More for the brilliant team radio than anything else, but a strong win with enough pace to hold off Alonso at the end
15pts - Fernando Alonso - Another very strong drive and a great lap one pass on Mark Webber
12pts - Bruno Senna - Spun round in the first corner and then hit by Vettel and still scores points think there should be some bonus points for that
10pts - Kamui Kobayashi - For being on of the few cars not involved with any of the accidents and contact going on
8pts - Paul Di Resta - Another driver with early damage making it back through to score some points
6pts - Pastor Maldonado - First decent points score since the win back in Barcelona, and only one accident along the way not too bad.
4pts - Narain Karthekeyan - Deserves some danger points after seeing a car sail over his head - would need to see the on-board from that shunt
2pts - Nico Rosberg - For the extreme air time, lost points for a messy landing
1pt - John - for the outside broadcast of one of, if not the best race of the year so far, and also there was pie involved.
The Penalties Championship
Because Vettel's demotion to the back of the grid was a technical issue, there was only one penalty handed out following the incidents and accidents of the day, rather surprising considering the quantity of contact and investigations that were carried out. Webber for one evaded two penalties for the two incidents he was involved in mid-race. So it was only One-stop Perez who was penalised for the mad accident that took out Webber and Grosjean.
The penalty points championship
With so much action on track and generally a few seconds later continuing a little further off the track and occasionally finishing up in the barrier there was not too much to throw penalty points at oddly enough. The majority of the collisions were the simple matter of two (or more) cars trying to occupy the same space and not wanting to give in to the other, sometimes that leads to good racing, and other times wheels fall off. Speaking of wheels, the first penalty point goes to HRT, because Karthikeyan's rear wheel came off a little too easy and was only caught by the extensive run-off space the track has. It may turn out that the nose of Nico's car severed the wheel tether on impact, but still getting a penalty point. A second point goes to David Coulthard who has been complaining about the pit lane exit tunnel, which given the layout of the first two corners is a good and innovative solution. We don't want another dodgy exit like the one in Korea frankly.
Looking ahead to USA
Next up is a completely new venue purpose built to join the F1 Calendar, taking over from India as the newest place to host a grand prix. Hopefully this track will be a significant improvement on the last one we used for the American GP, because oval infield tracks are never traditionally an optimal solution especially for an F1 event. What is odd is that there was a need to build a whole new circuit when the US has a plethora of existing tracks - some of which surprisingly are not ovals - which are actually rather good. America tend not to do purpose built tracks, holding a lot of races on street tracks, and if today was anything to go by - unleashing that level of insanity onto a street circuit with concrete walls very close is a recipe for disaster - and hilarity as well.
The images of the track and virtual representations again seems like a layout of two halves, with a very impressive opening sector based on Silverstone's maggots/becketts sequence which is a very promising sequence of corners. There is also some rather interesting elevation changes where the apex of the first corner is placed at the peak of the first climb, and several other blind turn in points. If only the rest of the lap followed suit, the final sector has tried to replicate the arena section of Hokkenheim and it doesn't look so good, a little too tight and clumbsy. But I only have access to an early beta of the track that was produced when the layout was first released a couple of years ago, so there may be inaccuracies and we will only find out when the cars arrive in two weeks time. So until then this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.
As the lights illuminated above the Yas Marina circuit, the grid has been set for tomorrow and the seemingly impeccable and insurmountable form of the recent races has been tweaked a little this afternoon. Although once more it is verging into the evening as I boot up the machine for making this post to the internet, and will be closer to evening when it is eventually released. In a sense these little - well not so little really, outbursts are a temporal window into the life here at blog HQ, as it takes that long to compile them. On that note it might explain why the viewing figures have been falling apart recently, in some cases struggling to pass over single figures, which probably only covers web crawlers and search engines - no actual people. But I don't mind twittering on to myself, I do most of the time anyhow either in or out of my little corner of the room.
More ranting aside, this blog is here for the racing and in terms of the saturday post, the all important qualifying session, and unlike other events of the season like India - for those who managed to stay awake through it. I did through the help of a toastie infused with special sauce, nothing keeps you awake at that time of the morning like a painful breakfast. In Abu-Dhabi overtaking is rather less possible, a by product of the excessive amount of corners especially on the latter half of the lap near the marina. Exacerbated by the fact that one of the straights is actually curved and the other one narrows on the racing line towards the braking zone. All these factors meant that qualifying pace is slightly more important, reflecting places like Singapore and Monaco - Vettel even made a comparison to Valencia, which explains everything. Yas Marina effectively is Valencia but disguised under layers of shiny lights and quirky buildings. But I'm onto you Abu Dhabi, your lights can't fool me, although it does look rather cool, even if it can generate some dull racing. On the upside it only has to beat India, and that might not take too much.
image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk
Qualifying
The session began under the natural Arabian sun as the evening was rapidly approaching bringing with it the darkness and cooler temperatures. An issue that has seemed to fade away from the spotlight, as the last time we were in the middle east, the temperatures made Lotus rather quick almost giving Kimi his first win since his return at the beginning of the year. Even the evening/night temperatures would be classified as a heat wave in the dull and soggy land blog HQ hides in, but at this end of the season the teams have reached a start of equilibrium performing similarly across the thermal ranges.
At the start of Q1 there was a small queue waiting on the end of the pit lane for the light to open the start of the first session. Kamui Kobayashi lined up first to make the descent through the underground pit lane exit, initially followed by Maldonado's Williams, but Grosjean - third in line - passed the Venezuelan just before the ramp into the tunnel. Of the group Maldonado set the fastest time, but the track was getting much busier with only the Red Bulls and Hamilton remaining in the garage. This meant there was a resurgent Alonso on track somewhere, and he duly announced his presence with a faster time - only by 0.021s however, a time which Pastor beat to reclaim the lead.
As the session drew on drivers were beginning to explore the limits of the track, Hamilton locking up at the end of the second straight scooting across the overly blue tarmac and missing out the following chicane. On reflection that is a much better line for that corner, rather than the naff sequence currently in place, it might hinder overtaking a little, but it would improve the track - if only we could fix the rest of it. Coming out late was Vettel and it was his turn to try and modify the track, brushing the wall after passing under the hotel, but as it was the German Bloke - no damage was done and completed the lap in a respectable time. Battling for relegation were the same faces including Vergne, who has a habit of being relegated in Q1, just being the car that set the first lap of the session - Kobayashi. Struggling down at this end wasn't helpful to maintain his Sauber contract.
Q1 ended with Hamilton setting the fastest time, while Alonso spent the session powersliding his Ferrari to third behind Webber, and championship leader lagging further down the times in 9th. The most interesting story of Q1 was that Charles Pic in the Marussia not only beat his team-mate but one of the Caterham drivers lining up second in the division behind the dominant force of Heikki Kovalainen. All of which have no confirmed contracts for the coming season.
Moving on now to the second part of qualifying and after a small period of inactivity, the majority of the cars took to the track headed by One-Stop Perez in the Sauber and Button's McLaren; only Hulkenberg remained in the pit lane. But it was the Lotus cars who set the early pace, with Raikkonen taking the lead, only to see Grosjean go faster by the tiniest of margins. However that was short lived as Hamilton continued the form of the first part of the session to take his McLaren to the top of the timings. In the middle of the top ten, the times were getting rather close indeed, a tenth covered several drivers most of which were on a 1:41.5 including Fernando Alonso's Ferrari and the entire Lotus team.
With things being so close the amount of position changes as the minutes started to run out was surprisingly small, those who were in the relegation zone were staying there meaning those on the other side were safe. Hulkenberg in 11th was 0.118s outside of making it through into the next phase, in comparison to other weekends that was a large space as it is normally measured in hundredths and thousandths. The thought of which makes me rather hungry - there might be a little interval in proceedings as I go to lunch. The major margins were opening up at the front of the field where Hamilton seemed to have a comfortable margin from any potential challenger, a power that Vettel has been used to for a few races. Interestingly it emerged once more that Webber was the closest contender against the McLaren, additionally on the other side of the McLaren garage Button wasn't having such a good time, almost dropping out of Q2 as Rosberg made it through in the Mercedes.
We only had 10 drivers remaining and 10 minutes set into the timer it was time for the final phase of qualifying, and unlike other Q3 sessions quite a few drivers went out on the opening lap instead of waiting in the garage until the very end. In the beginning Lotus locked out the opening row of the grid, recalling the formation flying approach of their former era as Renault Squadron, with Kimi acting as Squadron Leader. However Fernando shot them down to take the provisional lead of the session, even that was temporary as Hamilton stretched his advantage even further setting an unassailable target. Alonso was subsequently beaten by both of the Red Bulls at the conclusion of the first runs.
As the cars filtered out of the pits Maldonado and Massa joined the runners on track, but the overall pole position was realistically out of reach for anyone who wasn't Hamilton. Felipe completed his lap but spent too much time missing apexes and sliding to make any significant ground, Maldonado however managed to get his car up into 3rd between the Red Bulls - beating Webber and Alonso. Things didn't improve for Fernando as he was then beaten by Squadron Leader Raikkonen in the Lotus. Webber partially re-addressed the balance of power to put both Red Bulls onto the front row by demoting Maldonado and going second. Well at the sharp end Hamilton didn't need to complete his final lap as his current time was good enough for pole as it was, and Vettel after finishing his run pulled the car over underneath the hotel walkway after being instructed to stop the car. Assuming more troubles with the alternator which has cost him many points already this year.. Speaking of points.
The Bonus points championship points winners
Here are the points scorers from qualifying in Abu Dhabi this afternoon
10pts - Charles Pic - not only fot beating Glock but also for beating the Caterham of Petrov and almost leading the entire division
8pts - Pastor Maldonado - another sporadic burst of speed on a track that in places resembles a street track
6pts - Nico Rosberg - for forcibly dragging a fading Mercedes into the top ten of qualifying and 8th on the grid
5pts - Lewis Hamilton - has to have some points for ending the reign of Vettel based domination
4pts - Sebastien Vettel - for brushing the wall on the exit of the hotel - it looked cool
3pts - Romain Grosjean - for overtaking before the descent into the underground tunnel
2pts - Felipe Massa - for the best of the slides from the qualifying hour
1pt - Kimi Raikkonen - for being able out-qualify half of the first division teams
Looking to tomorrow
As we didn't have any penalties handed out from this afternoons session, a couple of investigations were carried out but nothing has surfaced at this later stage, everyone was well behaved so there are no penalty points to hand out either. So we move on to the prospect of the race tomorrow, which is the second outside broadcast of the season - to a realm far above the questionable culinary quality of pre-race toasties that are on the menu here. And on the back of two rather uneventful races in Korea and India we could do with the action in Abu Dhabi to be of a better class too, there is the matter that for the first time in a while Vettel won't be leading off the front row and vanishing off into the distance. But other than him and Alonso there are not too many cars too far out of position on the grid, which does lead towards a static event.
However the environment this time round is slightly different in comparison to the previous two races, the walls are closer and the margins of error are slightly smaller, and those factors increase the potential for a safety car intervention. Although there haven't been too many of those in previous iterations of the event, most recently when Liuzzi ended up on top of Schumacher on the opening lap, but aside from that things have been calmer. Further evidence is rather damming, in 2010 Alonso spend a massive amount of time behind Petrov in a Renault despite having the faster car, and leading Vettel to the title. The Russian may not be in play tomorrow, neither is the championship up for grabs, but it is the same two contenders at the sharper end of the season - so the 2012 Abu Dhabi may not be enthralling but it can be very pivotal in deciding who takes the title in Brazil - or potentially in the states. So until then this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.
Things move really quickly at this end of the season - only three weeks separate us from the end of the season which in itself is a rather bleak fact - because on the other side of the final weekend is a bleak cold emptiness. Not entirely different to the rest of the year, but that season has intermittent bursts of racing to make things a little more tolerable. As the season is starting to run out, the driver market starts to fluctuate a little more rapidly than usual, and last race there was an idea that one of the first moves of the season was falling into place. That was the transition that Hulkenberg was making from Force India across to Sauber - which isn't too much of a progression swapping one mid-field team for another - a gain of a couple of tenths at best. But almost as soon as that rumour was thought about it seemed to fade away, something that would have settled Kobayashi's nerves slightly as it is his seat under-threat. Then in a third element in the story, as it turned out yesterday that the German has been signed for Sauber for 2013, leaving only one seat left there, which might be booked for Gutierrez from GP2. Elsewhere the Toro Rosso team have confirmed both drivers for the next season, also safe is Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus.
Another interesting development refers to the absence of the second race in the US which was removed from the calendar for next year - and is probably coated in storm debris at the moment. There was a thought, which only circulated through the limited space that is blog HQ, that Valencia might be re-instated since New Jersey booted the race out to start off with. But an interesting contender has been suggested and that is France, that is some respects is a sigh of relief as there were plans for France to alternate with the Belgian GP. This means that we get to keep the spectacle that is Spa at least for a while before anything is confirmed with Paul Ricard (which is a track not a person). But those matters are a distance away, so it is time to re-focus back on this weekend at a completely different venue.
The Track
Credit to the FIA for the map
We arrive at the Abu Dhabi grand prix at another of those Tilke designed ventures, but this one takes a slightly different approach almost to the extent that the designers almost seemed to forget that the idea is to make a racing circuit. Instead a lot of focus was placed on the architecture that surrounds the track and crosses over it in places, perhaps too much focus. That said the results are staggeringly impressive, with colour changing hotels and glass lined walkways bridging the circuit, all combining to create a very futuristic scene looking even more resplendent under the floodlights - as this a race that crosses through dusk and into the night. But as visually overwhelming the facility is, the actual racing surface is a little more important.
The opening sector of the lap contains the only interesting corners and the only undulation on the lap, making the rest seem a little duller by comparison. The early sweeping sequence is followed up by a slightly pointless chicane - which doesn't need to exist considering, as it only damages the run into the hairpin below the amphitheatre of fans in front of Ferrari world. Then comes the first of the long back straights and the opening DRS zone, which for some reason reduces by a lane towards before the chicane at the end of the straight. The second straight is a little curved past the second pit garages for support races, using the southern loop of the track. Up until this point the track isn't too bad, taking inspiration from the Istanbul track offering potential for overtaking through two DRS zones.
Round the remainder of the track the scenery really does take over as the priority as a design paradigm, completely overriding the needs of the layout and the track - introducing a series of generic 90 degree corners. Something we are used to on non-European street circuits, but on a permanent circuit they are out of place and boring, hence why they decided to hide one section with a massive glowing hotel. Nothing screams distraction like a multi-storey building gilded in immaculate white and then finished off with a roof made of a mesh of glass panels and colour changing lights.
But of all the tracks of the season this is one that looks a lot better in video than is does in a couple of paragraphs scrawled in the empty space of the internet. Therefore it is time to release the latest edition which took a while to film because I wanted to the building to turn yellow as I drove past, which is on a 90s cycle and took over 90 laps to synchronise, does seem like a little much effort for what the end result actually is, but here it is anyway.
What to expect
At the front of the grid there is not much that can be said in terms of a running order, as there are two blue cars that might be a little quicker than everyone else unleashing domination at the last few races. This pattern doesn't show any signs of stopping any time soon, something that won't be too comforting for title rival Alonso in a car which despite his best efforts is not quick enough to defeat the Red Bull team. Between the red and blue teams there is the McLaren team who at times can keep up with the top pace but in reality are closer to the cars behind rather than the ones in front. Also dropping back from the ultimate pace, there is the Lotus team - almost relegated to being the fourth best team on the grid, placing the final nail in the coffin of Raikkonen's dwindling title effort.
In the mid-field there is an order emerging as the season closes in on the final race, where Sauber and Force India are turning into the more consistently competitive cars both taking their chances as being top of the division. Williams have had bursts of speed - more so early on in the season, scoring that win in Spain, but recently have faded slightly on average. At the back of the group is the Toro Rosso team who have scored points recently but on the whole are a little further behind the group.
At the very back everything has been returned to normal, Caterham have regained the lead, while Marussia are racing with HRT for the back row of the grid. On a longer track with a lot more corners than usual, the gap between the established cars and Caterham will be a little further behind than normal so won't be getting out of Q1 without something going wrong for the other drivers further up the grid.
Predictions
Ah, here we go the time where I demonstrate once more how little I actually know about the sport and score very little points at all - this feature probably won't survive the off-season and might go missing by 2013.
Vettel
Alonso
Hamilton
Webber
Button
Raikkonen
Massa
Hulkenberg
Grosjean
Kobayashi
Qualifying
Red Bull - Vettel
McLaren - Hamilton
Ferrari - Alonso
Lotus - Raikkonen
Mercedes - Rosberg
Sauber - Perez
Force India - Hulkenberg
Williams - Maldonado
Toro Rosso - Ricciardo
Caterham - Kovalainen
Marussia - Glock
HRT - De La Rosa
So there you have it all is sorted for the Abu Dhabi GP at the Yas Marina circuit in the futuristic realm of opulent buildings and under ground pit lane exits. So until Saturday this is farewell from the blog.
In a country of so many contrasts and vibrancy there was a hope that this intensity and energy would be transferred from the enthusiasm of India onto the race track. Well that was a hope that ultimately proved to be in vain, because the race picked up exactly where Korea left off a fortnight ago, these Tilke designed efforts may drive well (in rare instances) but the design table does tend to lead to some processional racing. It doesn't inspire that much more hope to consider that the next race on the calendar is another production from the same office out in the middle east. Even before we have packed things up in India teams and drivers have been informed of how difficult it is to pass there, oh joy, even Alonso spent a lot of laps pinned behind Petrov in 2010. But ranting about Abu Dhabi is a matter for next weekend, because earlier on today was the Indian event, it might be a little generous to consider it a race, really.
The overall outcome was virtually decided several races ago when the balance of power seemed to irreversibly shift after the teams left Europe and headed out across Asia. With this run of performances the mathematics of the championship seems to conceal the actual one-sided reality of it when the remaining circuits will play against the challengers - of which that number has fallen since the drop of the flag. With only 75 points to race for now in the last three races (of course there are 105 blog bonus points on offer too) there is an air of finality about the championship but perhaps the new track in the US might throw a spanner into that or some rain in the finale in Brazil. It is a shame that the hopes are being pinned on some theoretical chaos and uncertainty but if how things today were anything to go by, you won't get too much for predicting the winner in three weeks time.
Credit to F1Fanatic for the image.
The Race
Twelve months on from the inaugural Indian GP and the track looked much better than it did for the first race, there was a lot less dust on the track surface meaning there was more usable road for potential overtaking.. perhaps. If only the thin veil of cynicism was a symptom of waking up a little earlier than planned on a Sunday morning but it wasn't too much of a surprise to see the race unfold in the manner it did before the lights went out on lap one. Even my culturally relevant curry flavoured toastie wasn't enough to resurrect the prospect of an action packed thrilling event.
One by one the cars filed into position on the grid, in the position they had qualified in for once, without the array of technical infringements that have manipulated the order for the majority of the season. On the basis of qualifying no-one was really starting out of position either meaning the race for the most part would be decided in the first half of the opening lap - something that was built into these Tilke events, to make the most of the first lap and introduce the greatest opportunity for things to kick off early on in the proceedings. It worked last season with a little bit of opening lap contact.
When the lights did go out this time the front pairing seemed leave the grid in synchronicity with each other Webber marginally the quicker making a subtle effort to take the lead from that German Bloke into the first corner. Button made it past Hamilton but for the most part everyone was well behaved and organised, a couple of cars at the very bottom of the grid locked up under braking but all was well. Except of course for in the world of Schumacher who came to blows ever so slightly with Vergne at the start, the merest of contact from the Toro Rosso front wing pierced Michael's tyre and damaged the Frenchman's front wing.
Onto the back straight the two McLarens were running two wide from the exit of the corner, punching a rather large hole in the air in the process, a hole that Alonso took full advantage of. So now we were running three wide - which is always something cool to see, Hamilton in the centre had to see both cars come past towards the end of the straight. The straight was long enough for Hamilton to drop out of the line, pick up the tow from the Ferrari and send it back down the inside of turn four, locking up in the process and sliding back out towards Button on the outside of the corner opening up the space on the inside. That space was eagerly claimed by Fernando's Ferrari which slotted in ahead of Hamilton but behind Button - thus ending the competition up front for a while. At the very back of the field Schumacher parted company with the carcass of his rear tyre through turn five before pitting for a replacement.
Vettel instantly opened up a significant gap out front back to Webber in second, the dominance started early for the Red Bull team driving away as the other contenders were busy contending with each other as Alonso was working passing the second McLaren. A queue was starting to form slightly behind Button who was struggling to get enough pace out of the softer compound tyres, a queue leading back to Raikkonen in 7th caught up behind the second Ferrari of Massa. Behind Raikkonen gap was building to the mid-field runners of Perez and Hulkenberg, the first time in a while a division split has been clearly visible between the top teams and the centre of the grid. But as per normal it was the centre of the grid that was being more entertaining than the top teams. Even though that wasn't by too much overall, but a second train was also collecting behind Rosberg's Mercedes, and due to the high straight line speed of Nico's car it proved very difficult to pass on the only real passing zone in turn 4.
There was some changes in position once the DRS was enabled, both of which went against Jenson Button losing out firstly to Alonso and one lap later he was passed by his team-mate. Which effectively settled the running order among the top cars for the next 45 laps - a summation really of the race. Button next had Massa closing in, but couldn't have any effect on the McLaren despite the longer final gearing Ferrari was using. Raikkonen couldn't make a move on either, hampered by a lack of top speed in the Lotus meaning he'd be staring at the back of the Ferrari for a lot longer. At the opposite end of the race, Karthikeyan received a series of radio calls about his brakes, citing that they were overheating, not an ideal call on a track where 1200m of straight ends in a hairpin. HRT have had previous issues with brakes, De La Rosa's failed in Canada, and Narain's went in qualifying in Korea. It didn't bode well frankly.
With the top runners now being increasingly boring it was the turn of somebody else in the middle of the group to make a move. That responsibility fell to Hulkenberg after catching up with the Sauber of One-Stop Perez, and it was only ever going to happen in one place - the DRS straight (although there are two DRS zones on the latter actually mattered) Nico was able to take the position away from Sergio, only to find an acre of space in front as he had now reached the top of the division with no hope of further progression. More DRS based action now as Senna made it past his team-mate in an inter-team battle outside the points positions setting his sights on Grosjean ahead. It does make you wonder slightly how this race would have played out if there was no DRS in action - according to the commentary team only four non DRS passes were made last season.... things were probably not quite so action packed at this stage.
Despite everything seeming more orderly than an OCD kitchen something really odd happened, something that made me set aside my toastie and question the images on the television. One-Stop Perez pitted first, it was completely unprecedented, however not too much later after rejoining Sergio tried to pass Ricciardo round the outside of turn one. Trying something other than turn four for overtaking didn't work as the Sauber brushed another Toro Rosso front wing and cut a tyre in the process. The band of rubber fell off in turn five, and the car was forced to retire with damage caused by the flailing tyre on the in lap. The rest of the cars started to cycle through the pits to change tyres, as for Hamilton he also managed to swap the steering wheel in a five wheeled stop in 3.3s - it's the little things you notice when nothing else is going on. I also noticed there was a cat sitting outside the blog HQ window for the duration of the race, but didn't want to come in.
This middle phase of the race saw very little happen, even less than in Korea, which is not a stat India will really be wanting to take in. Raikkonen nearly made a place in the stops but Massa just drove past in a straight line to re-take it, so Kimi was back once more - in a faster car trapped behind the Ferrari. The mix of cars on different strategies hurt Button's challenge as he got caught up behind Grosjean who was running longer into the race. A little further back the Williams team were having a similar problem with Kobayashi in the Sauber, Maldonado threw it down the inside into the only overtaking corner only for Kamui to cut back to the inside on the exit. The two cars seemed to gravitate towards each other on the run to turn five, leading to the third of the increasingly lighter wing/tyre touches of the morning and even this contact resulted in a puncture. Maldonado kept it out of the barrier but that was the end of the faint hope for points on that side of the garage.
Entering the final third of the race, and Vettel still existed out front, he was just being boring so hasn't been mentioned in a while, but in Webber's world it wasn't so smooth, as a radio call confirmed his KERs system had died. Without the additional power Alonso closed the gap to the Red Bull rapidly, but the Australian had enough pace just to keep him out of the DRS range where the Ferrari has been very effective. Hamilton was on is own in fourth, same for Button in 5th, the delay behind Grosjean dropped him off the back of the other McLaren. Massa still had Raikkonen behind him, which has to be close to a new record for being stuck behind the same competitor - up there with Coulthard and Enrique Bernoldi at Monaco in 2002. Both Ferraris had received calls to be careful on their fuel loads as it was getting a little tight - more so in the case of Massa, which still didn't allow Kimi a chance of escaping the sight of the red and white rear wing.
After receiving calls earlier in the race, nothing more was heard from the HRT pitwall regarding brake issues, so the car decided to send one back. Ejecting a large plume of brake dust from the left front wheel under braking for the turn four hairpin, this was the front brakes failing sending Pedro De La Rosa spinning into the gravel bumping into the wall gently. Despite Narain being warned earlier it was the sister car that ended up retiring with Brudle described as the second scariest thing to go wrong on a race car. Further ahead, the KERS problem was not going to resolve itself as his race engineer claimed it would, indicating that the problem may have been more than an overheating issue. Alonso had got inside the one second threshold for the DRS - and without the KERs to build a safety buffer off turn three Webber was powerless to defend from the Ferrari. Additionally Hamilton was gaining on the weakened Red Bull as laps were running out.
The TV turned the cameras on Vettel - probably just to check he was still there, which oddly enough he was, but all was not quite right as the Red Bull was trailing a shower of sparks from the front of the under-tray under high load. It didn't last too long as whatever was touching the ground soon wore away and no longer caused a problem, other than some quizzical looks from the pit wall. At the opposite end of the points positions Senna had caught up with Rosberg in the Mercedes, and despite a straight line speed advantage the Williams was able to use the DRS to take the place to the outside of turn four. With only two laps to go Schumacher pulled his Mercedes into retirement, which on the surface seems oddly like another false retirement to be able to change parts for the next race. A problem that like in qualifying receives an automatic penalty point.
Vettel was so far out front it ended up being an easy victory in the end leading every single lap completed in India over both the races contended, which is a little overkill frankly but an impressive achievement nonetheless. Alonso finished second, and was the only car in the top seven to improve on his grid position inside the top 7 drivers, if it wasn't for Fernando's improvement there would have been no change at all. Webber hung onto third despite Hamilton hunting him down to the end of the race so the McLaren drivers finished in the order they started. The same was true for Massa and Raikkonen in 6th and 7th, mimicking their grid order at the end of the race, concluding 60 laps of Kimi staring at the rear diffuser of Felipe's car. Outside the top division it was Hulkenberg leading that charge scoring some points for the home team, ahead of Romain Grosjean placing two Lotuses in the points. While taking home the final point was Bruno Senna for Williams
After the flag had fallen Massa pulled his car over as it was out of fuel, Hulkenberg pulled his over for some unknown reason, and Vettel despite winning parked his car in the wrong part of the pit lane and was pushed by Webber's car down to underneath the podium. Earning a hole in the nosecone in the process.
The Bonus Points Championship points winners
After what could be considered the least eventful race of the season, even beating Korea - two of those races in a row isn't ideal - and Abu Dhabi is not exactly favourite of ending the streak, picking the points has been difficult, very much so. Considering only one driver made progress inside the first division and not much more was going on the middle of the grid either.
25pts - Bruno Senna - For passing people because there wasn't much of it going on
18pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Also for passing people to be the top mid-field runner
15pts - Fernando Alonso - For being the only driver in the top seven to pass anyone even if it was with a car advantage
12pts - Jenson Button/Hamilton - For going three wide twice on the opening lap with the Ferrari of Alonso
10pts - McLaren - Changing four wheels and a steering wheel in under three and a half seconds has to be worth some points
8pts - Sebastien Vettel - Because lots of sparks are cool, more entertaining than his racing
6pts - Felipe Massa - Keeping the Lotus behind for 60 laps is rather impressive
4pts - Angry Cat - For deciding that sitting outside and staring at a wall was more exciting
2pts - Ted Kravitz - For babbling along to himself and spying on the spanish TV presenter - get in there Ted
1pt - Romain Grosjean - Points without any penalties or contact, well done have a point there
Penalty points championship
As with yesterday there were no official penalties, an investigation into Kobayashi and Maldonado's contact was rightfully deemed a racing incident, and second investigation into Schumacher ignoring blue flags was also waived off. Meaning we move swiftly on to the penalty points which again involves the other german bloke. Seemingly pulling in at the end of the race for a strategic retirement does warrant the issuing of a penalty point. Additionally because I gave Korea a penalty point for being dull, than on that precedent India will get one for the same rationale. Other than that there was nothing going on contentious enough to warrant penalties
Looking ahead to Abu Dhabi
Out third Tilke-drome in a row comes next and doesn't bring with it a raft of enthusiasm given how the last two have played out but the Yas Arena circuit is a little different - not all in the right direction. Abu Dhabi is an excessive demonstration of over indulgence and opulence, a facility where the track comes a distant second to the amount of time, effort and investment placed in the surroundings and trackside buildings. It seems that the developers wanted a design that would appeal more to the guests, dignitaries and sponsors that are flown in to watch the event. Almost to the point where the requirements of the circuit were forgotten about.
That said the layout isn't that bad in some places, the first couple of corners are decent and in some respects the futuristic scenery and architecture acts to hide the fact that a lot of the track is repetitive and unnecessary. Like so many other of the Tilke tracks the planned overtaking zones are so blatantly obvious and limited that it becomes much easier to plan a defence from an attacking car, for example using KERs in the DRS areas. On race day however there is one factor that could throw in some unpredictability into the mix and that is walls, the presence of the corporate buildings and hotel structure means there is little run off at times. Combine that with the sand coming in off the desert and grip might be limited leading to a Safety car, however there is some support race action from the V8 supercars from Australia and those cars will be all over the place. I can foresee those cars being more entertaining than the F1 race but we shall see. So until then farewell from the blog, as I have a video to make on the Yas Marina circuit.
Although the session was broadcast almost 12hrs ago - well by the time this is completed that figure will have been significantly surpassed, it is time to start the post. While this post is beginning other things thrashing round in the rumour mill in some facets have been drawing to a close. Starting off there is the matter of the transfer between Force India to Sauber for Nico Hulkenberg, but Sky have suggested today that this deal is in no way completed which possibly throws a branch of hope back to Kamui who's seat is up for contest. A second thought of the day was quashed almost as soon as it was raised - although it was claimed had been circulating for a while, but Blog HQ is perpetually out of the loop anyway. The idea was that the Lotus team were going to change hands to being controlled by Proton - the Malaysian manufacturer. The matter of the ownership of Lotus has been a contentious issue for a while - leading to Caterham not being called Lotus for this season, and Renault-Squadron taking over as being the Lotus team.
Dialling things back for the session this morning - yes it was this morning when it was still light outside and there was still snow on the ground from yesterday. Indeed blog HQ encountered the first snow-fall of the oncoming bleak winter - another signal that the off season is waiting darkly in the wings, never a pleasant phase of the year, not that many part of the year are pleasant to start off with, but that is life. Quite the contrary underneath the Indian sun where we were treated to another illustration of the reformatted order at this end of the season. For the third consecutive race weekend in a row the line up on the front row features the same pair of drivers - the nature of the track and the car differences acted to sort the front rows into comparative team order. This demonstrates that the driver has as smaller impact on lap time than the car they have been provided with. So this is how things played out before breakfast, whatever that is.
Image credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk
Qualifying
Before the first cars took to the track we were treated to the vast aerial shots of the track, looking at the scale of some of the features - the monolithic back straight, and arcing circle turn section dominating the proceedings. We saw that there had been some changes to the track - replacing some of the grass on the outside of the track with more tarmac. Not a decision that sits too well with blog HQ, yes having tarmac as a run-off zone keeps cars in the race after spinning off - but there needs to be a buffer at the edge of the track. This means that running wide on exits will not be an advantage, as it is now, it should force drivers to take more care.
The first drivers to take to the circuit were from the local team - getting the publicity shots in early as their weekend pace by this point suggested that making it through into the top ten might be a little difficult. Naturally they set the top two times - which would have made a decent screen-saver back at their HQ, because it wasn't going to last too long. To spoil the promotional images for the Force India team was the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen, and One-Stop Perez before the main runners took to the circuit. In this early stage of proceedings the likes of McLaren and Red Bull were sitting in the garage biding their time, because due to the lack of running on the track during the year, the surface starts off dusty and slippery. So the lead runners waited for the others to clean things up. A demonstration of track conditions was performed by Felipe Massa, using a little too much of the dusty run-off after the penultimate corner. The Ferrari performed a half spin staying well away from the barriers but ruined all four tyres in the process.
Vettel turned up on his first lap and took the lead of the session, highlighting the amount domination that the German bloke has at the moment, but in this first session the concern is over the battle for relegation at the far end of the field. The traditional members of the relegation party were all in attendance in the bottom seven spaces, and the remaining position was fluctuating rapidly as each new time passed it to the next driver in line. One more it fell to a duel between the two Toro Rosso drivers, who despite performing well in recent races, still struggled in qualifying, compounded by the fact that their immediate rivals - Williams were doing well. In this internal competition, the regular result won out once more as Ricciardo put a time in at the death of the session to knock his team-mate Vergne out. Also on his final lap, Heikki was having a less successful time spinning into the gravel on the exit of the circle turn at the back of the track.
Oddly the green light for the second phase of the session was activated before a truck had got round to the point where Heikki's car was trapped in the gravel, so there was some yellow flags left out on the out laps. A flurry of mid-field runners were the first to take to the track - including the Force India drivers, but this time there were no promotional images of the cars at the top of the timesheets, because it was Sauber who set the opening time with Kobayashi. Hulkenberg quickly re-addressed the balance to go quickest. With all remaining drivers leaving the pit lane, it wasn't long before the Red Bull team locked out the front row once more with Alonso and Button on the other edge of the top five. There were slight difficulties for both Hamilton and Grosjean in the first of the chicanes - getting loose on turn in and cutting across the apex.
In this session the battle to be promoted through into the final phase was significantly more intense, a couple of tenths could cost several positions - considering several contenders were all within a tenth crossing the boundary for relegation. Initially there were some surprising characters sitting outside the top ten - including Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean. To illustrate how close things were, there was only 0.001s between Button and Hamilton to decide who finished closest to the Red Bull team out front. Late laps from Maldonado, Perez and Rosberg proved pivotal, dropping Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Senna out of the session. While at the front the domination continued.
With only ten minutes on the clock and ten contenders competing in the final phase of qualifying the result seemed like a forgone conclusion - along with the remaining races of the season, nevermind this weekend. Four drivers opened the session with the remainder hiding in pit lane for now, of the four Vettel was the only one not complete a time, running off at turn five and abandoning the lap. The Red Bull domination was passed onto Webber who went fastest ahead of Alonso and Hamilton. Rosberg did take to the track but only completed a installation lap before pitting - not to return and therefore earning an instant penalty point for laziness.
That left nine drivers out on track to decide the pole position, and the battle was only ever going to have one victor, a certain German bloke in a blue car took the lead with his second effort. Webber was unable to take the fight back to his team-mate after locking a wheel and running wide through turn three, while Button claimed the final place on the podium - well temporarily anyway before Hamilton took that place. Maintaining the team by team structure both Ferraris lined up 5th and 6th, Massa taking his contracted position behind Alonso. Raikkonen finished 7th, the default position for Lotus behind the main teams, the final two runners of the session were Perez in 8th and Maldonado in 9th. Where Rosberg without running will line up 10th.
The Bonus Points Championship points winners
The session may have been an undiluted demonstration of where individual cars are running in relation to each other, meaning that individual performances were smothered by the internal car pace they are handed. But despite that points do need to be handed out and they are as follows.
10pts - One-Stop Perez - For out performing the car, and making it into the top ten when the other Sauber almost went out in Q1
8pts - Pastor Maldonado - Another interesting entry into the top ten on a strong day for Williams
6pts - Vitaly Petrov - Out qualifying his faster team-mate, a rare achievement deserves points
5pts - Narain Karthikeyan - For not being last on the grid for his home race in India
4pts - Sebastien Vettel - Because it has been a whole lot of dominance so far
3pts - Nico Rosberg - For being quick compared to the car pace in Q2
2pts - Buddh Circuit - For being a Tilke track that doesn't inspire despair and boredom
1pt - Felipe Massa - He may not be allowed to beat Alonso but can have a point for the effort.
The Penalty Points Series
As there were no official penalties this weekend coming out of qualifying - we haven't even got any technical penalties to cause any changes to the order from the session. Something which an anomaly compared to all season has only occurred at two other races, we shall move onto the penalty points series which only receives two additional entries today.
Nico Rosberg - For not bothering with the final part of qualifying and earns one penalty point
Tarmac run-off - Stop making life too easy at the edge of the track, just stop it
Looking not too far into the future
It is a little odd when there is less time between now and the start of the race, and this post will only exist during the night when no-one will actually be near the internet to witness it. Does sort of render the whole thing rather pointless - but most things in life usually are, especially in this corner of the internet, talking to myself in an endless text box but oh well.. The Indian GP in a few hours could be a very interesting event, especially on the opening lap, with the long straights early in the lap combined with the extra wide braking zones. All adding up for a recipe for potential damage and mayhem, we lost some carbon fibre in turn three on the opening event for the track.
The dual DRS zones could allow the racing to continue on for the remainder of the race, as questions are remaining when considering the tyre degradation and amount of pit-stops needed during the race is a great unknown. The second of the zones has even been lengthened for this second running of the race, in an effort to improve the entertainment and spectacle of the race. Because the second half of the lap isn't really geared for overtaking, more for driving enjoyment, Hamilton tried to make a pass in this section and only ended up improving his relationship with Massa by hitting him in turn 5. As the track has had a year to settle, and the lines are less dusty things may be more exciting this time and to warrant being awake that early, one can only hope.
As the threat of the off-season looms news and developments are bubbling to the surface rapidly with each passing weekend. Even as the end of the last race out in South Korea more of the cogs began to slide into place in the increasingly dynamic world over the driver market. However one of the highest profile stories doesn't even centre around the coming season, instead looking further ahead to the 2014 season, when the new engine regulations come into effect. Because Ferrari have been reportedly linked to that German bloke for that season, interestingly no-one seemed to tell Luca Di Montezemelo this who is rather denying any of it. On the other side of the fence the Red Bull team are also denying the idea that Vettel will be heading to join Alonso in the Ferrari garage. Of course the idea of this slightly laughable as it is a direct contradiction with the way things work in the Italian team, as there is a rigid driver hierarchy with a strictly defined number one. Having two number ones in the squad would - despite being fun for the audience - cause a massive headache for Dominicali.
Elsewhere Nico Hulkenberg has been confirmed as making the jump across to Sauber from Force India, which causes a problem for Kobayashi, as it is rumoured that Gutierrez from the GP2 series will fill the second seat. In turn a door then opens at Force India, which could possibly go to a former driver in the form of Adrian Sutil. The rest of the grid is a complete enigma as a very large list of drivers has been added to the potential hat, through the young driver testing selections so very few seats are completely safe further down the pack. The likes of Van Der Garde and Chilton have initially been linked with Catherham and Marussia respectively - as well as other names, Lotus have lined up three drivers despite their line up seeming secure.
Away from the driver pairings, there is also news going into 2013 season for the calendar, as the most recent street track to be added to the season in New Jersey has been postponed due to preparation difficulties. I would assume that the track is matches up with the requirements for American open wheel racing, but not F1. Therefore things may need to be modified to accept the lower, faster cars - therefore we shall have to wait until 2014 at the earliest for the second race in the US, we shall have to see if that means Valencia gets to come back or not. But on the subject of tracks it is time for the Indian GP back for it's second running.
The Track
credit to the FIA for the map
Arriving at one of the most culturally diverse and vibrant venues on the calendar, a world of intense colour and great curries, because everyone from time to time needs a great curry. Anyway the Buddh circuit is another of the modern tracks that have popped up in all sorts interesting and exotic locations. This one is build on an identical set of principles as the race last time in South Korea, fusing two distinct elements into a single complete circuit, mashing an overtaking zone into a challenging sector. The Indian GP takes both of those principles to a new level - the straight here is longer, than Korea - bordering a little on excessive, but combats this with some elevation changes connecting two high points at each end. Undulation has been used to good effect in several places on the track, particularly through the exit of turn one. The climb towards three makes both the braking zone and the turn in point completely blind on approach.
In other places descents have been used make the entrances to corners more challenging, mainly at the start of the second half of the circuit, coming down from the peak of the previous corner to pick out a difficult braking point. Balancing the right amount of speed to maximise the first apex but not compromise the secondary corners. In the virtual version of the lap I've used for this weekend the actual elevation changes have not been mapped to their full extent, but there are still many places where some additional elevation would have been very helpful. Some the synchronised chicanes are a little flat, but all circuits have niggly little flaws - even the mighty Spa has that depressingly rehashed final chicane.
Furthermore the track demonstrates some rather unique features, elements specifically designed to counter the problems in recent years with overtaking in the sport. The primary solution implemented is the widening of the braking zones and apex areas at the key corners of the lap. This aims to give the drivers more possible lines through the corner, limiting the effectivness of selecting the defensive line on approach. Simply running the car down the inside of the track won't help too much, as extra space opens up, adding space to the inside, and conversely improving the under-cut effect of taking an outside-in through to the exit of the corner. The second feature of the track is the compound corners in the second half, not quite the flowing nature of a traditional track, but achieving something similar technically. Corners that feed into chicanes, and a really long banked almost circular turn where the line is slightly pinched on the exit.
Overall the second half of the lap, is much better designed and refined than the similar concept in Korea, the corners flow much better and for a new track are actually quite enjoyable. An insight I was not able to provide this time last season as I had never driven at the point of the début race then, but actually navigating it in the blogmobile has been good. Which means this is time for the video back once more in glorious full 1080p HD - sometimes the power I wield could be considered to be overkill but it is way too much fun. So to curtail another psychotic episode here is the track video for the Indian GP.
What to expect
On the crest of some significant momentum over the past few races it is hard to look past Red Bull for the top step of the podium and qualifying timesheets in particular this weekend. Ferrari need to hit back as the resurgence of that German bloke because if not the title once more is heading back in that direction. Then there is McLaren, who will likely have the pace to challenge the speed of the blue cars out at the front of the pack, more so in the race than in qualifying perhaps, but in the overall game of winning the main championship their hopes have faded away. Especially since Hamilton had two races effected by mechanical difficulties, only scoring one point in the past two races, and Button was taken out in Korea.
Behind them a slight divide is growing, back to Lotus and Mercedes carving out a division all of their own, Raikkonen has settled into a regular position behind the top teams only gaining positions when one of them dropped out. This does rather thin out his chances of taking the championship on his return, despite sitting in third on the table behind Alonso and Vettel. The Silver Arrows however are slipping further back, being swamped by the mid-field teams, struggling to break into the top ten in recent events.
This leads us onto the rest of the middle of the grid, where Sauber, Williams and Force India all seem to be on very comparable pace, intensifying the competition for points on Sunday. Korea also saw the final team in this group getting very involved in this as well, Toro Rosso as in previous years have made some significant relative progress towards the end of the season. Something that might be a consequence of the other teams around them directing their attention to the coming season and allowing the margins to close up. Can't complain their it does improve the racing in the middle of the pack, and back in Korea, that was where the only battles of the race were taking place as it was arguably dull everywhere else.
Right at the back of the grid, everything seems to have returned to normal, after Marussia had a little spurt a couple of races ago to the point where they even took the lead in the bottom division battle at Singapore. However Caterham have gained the upper hand, but retaking the championship position would require one hell of a crazy race, and a crazy race would be much appreciated frankly. I've recently seen the first of the V8 supercar races from Surfers Paradise - and that was a complete demonstration of madness in racing form. Two red flag aborted starts due to mayhem, including one car barrel rolling into the fence. Incidently the race did also showcase the really high quality of the Australian broadcasting, something that SKY could learn from, heck even the BBC could take a few notes. Just in case anyone missed it here is the race posted on youtube - featuring a lot of ex-F1 drivers including Squadron-Leader Heidfeld doing a rather good job (best viewed in youtube directly):
The blog predictions
Back to the main proceedings and it is time to release the dodgy and permanently unsuccessful series of predictions because I can.
Vettel
Hamilton
Webber
Alonso
Button
Massa
Raikkonen
Di Resta
Kobayashi
Grosjean
Qualifying
Red Bull: Vettel
McLaren: Hamilton
Ferrari: Alonso
Lotus: Raikkonen
Sauber: Perez
Williams: Maldonado
Force India: Hulkenberg
Toro Rosso: Ricciardo
Caterham: Kovalainen
Marussia: Glock
HRT: De La Rosa
Anyone who has managed to stay with this rather long post, can have some moral bonus points - and perhaps this is time to draw it to a close - the Indian GP may not be too inspiring as a race, I personally can't remember last season's race. Although that might have something to do with the fact that the iPlayer took ages to upload the event as I was at rehearsal being evil, at the time of the actual race. Consequently I was left with the highlights edition - which frankly was not too grand as they usually aren't. Hopefully this weekend will be a lot more entertaining as the track has bedded in now and most of the drivers have has one race under their belt to get used to managing the wider overtaking zones and interesting corners. So on that note this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.
