24 April 2011
The ‘Lost’ Generation
Examining the front-running drivers of today's Formula One field, there are two distinct 'generations' of drivers. First, we have the older group of drivers who debuted in the early part of last decade and are mostly in their early thirties; second, there's the newer crop who have joined the foray in the last four or five years and are in their mid-twenties. In other words, there's the Alonso-Webber-Button group and the Vettel-Hamilton-Rosberg group.
Whilst they are our current leading generations, they're not the only ones on the grid. Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher are the remaining remnants of a formidable generation of drivers that emerged in the early 1990s. Featuring such other heavyweights as Mika Hakkinen, Damon Hill, David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine, not only did this cluster rise to prominence unusually quickly owing to the tragic of death of Ayrton Senna, their considerable prowess allowed them to remain at the top of the game for an extensive period, denying much chance for what I like to call the 'lost' generation to make their mark on F1 history.
The 'lost' generation refers to drivers who debuted in the latter half of the 1990s – drivers such as Jacques Villeneuve, Giancarlo Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli, the only member of this group who remains an active F1 driver in 2011. It was only the first-named who was able to clinch the title, but the French-Canadian benefitted from a very rare set of circumstances. After taking the 1995 IndyCar title, he debuted for the dominant team of the era, Williams, in 1996. He narrowly lost out to teammate Hill in his first season, but when the Brit was unceremoniously sacked by the team, the way was clear for Villeneuve to see off Schumacher in 1997 in dramatic fashion.
Williams then suffered a decline after the departure of both their engine supplier, Renault, and their famed designer, Adrian Newey. A barren 1998 season led to Villeneuve throwing his lot in with the fledgling BAR team in 1999, a move his career never recovered from. As Williams fell from grace however, McLaren were able to secure the services of Newey to rejoin Ferrari as one of F1's undisputed top teams. Hakkinen sealed his overdue first title after a fierce battle with Schumacher as a result, and followed that up with a successful defence in 1999 after defeating Irvine, who was left to salvage glory for Ferrari after Schumacher broke his leg mid-season at Silverstone.
Schumacher recovered before the season was out however, and bounced back in 2000 to defeat Hakkinen and take his third crown. From thereon, there was just no stopping the man, who went on to put away four more titles during the following four seasons, rewriting the record books as he did so. He was finally deposed by Fernando Alonso in 2005, a member of today's older generation. His teammate was Fisichella, but his best years had been wasted in relatively uncompetitive machinery at Benetton and Jordan. The way he was outperformed by Alonso when he finally found himself with a race-winning car beneath him at Renault merely demonstrated how the 'lost' generation had missed the boat.
Schumacher remained with Ferrari until his retirement at the end of 2006, and Irvine's replacement for 2000 was not somebody from the next generation in line, but another member of the previous one – Barrichello. He remained at Maranello until the end of 2005 when he was replaced by fellow Brazilian Felipe Massa, part of today's older generation, meaning Ferrari skipped out the 'lost' generation. McLaren were guilty of a similar crime: their long-time drivers Hakkinen and Coulthard were eventually replaced by Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya respectively, both members of the early 2000s club.
After Villeneuve, the next-closest 'lost' generation driver to realise success was Michael's younger sibling, Ralf. After two promising seasons at Jordan in 1997 and 1998, he moved to Williams in the place of Villeneuve for 1999 in order to best position himself for the British team's forthcoming alliance with engine suppliers BMW, a partnership most speculators at the time believed would see the team return to their rightful place at the top and thus allow Ralf to challenge his more illustrious elder brother. Under the leadership of Michael though, Ferrari had become an almost unbeatable force in 2001 and 2002, and when an opportunity arrived for an upset in 2003, teammate Montoya was closer than Ralf to getting the job done.
Ferrari and Michael re-asserted their hegemony in 2004, by which point Williams were back on the down-slope. Ralf made a switch to Toyota that began promisingly enough in 2005, but he ultimately failed to impress, the German retiring at the end of 2007 with his obvious potential having gone largely unfulfilled. His teammate in his final years was a fellow constituent of the 'lost' generation, Trulli, who had moved to the Japanese car giant after stints with Jordan and Renault, the latter of which yielded his one and only race victory at Monaco in 2004. Like Ralf, Trulli was able to take advantage of the Toyota when it was competitive, but otherwise he achieved little of note before the manufacturer's pull-out at the end of 2009.
In the meantime, Fisichella couldn't quite cope with his rookie Renault teammate Heikki Kovalainen in 2007 after Alonso departed for McLaren, and Villeneuve jumped before he was pushed at BMW Sauber mid-way through 2006 after years of struggle at BAR, where he was sacked and replaced by Takuma Sato after being shaded by Jenson Button in 2003. That would be the end of the road for Villeneuve, but Fisichella became the lead driver for the then-new Force India team in 2008 after Alonso moved back to Renault after his unhappy stint at McLaren. Although Force India was the perennial back-marker in its first season, the team improved considerably in 2009 – Fisichella put the car on pole for the Belgian Grand Prix and would have likely won the race if not for the KERS button of Raikkonen's Ferrari.
This performance prompted Ferrari to sign the Italian up to replace his struggling countryman Luca Badoer in Massa's absence, but ironically it was this move that finished Fisichella's career. He failed to score any more points in the final five races of the season for the prancing horse, and his status as Ferrari reserve driver for 2010 made him unemployable in the eyes of Peter Sauber, who instead plumped for Pedro De La Rosa in his selection of an experienced hand to join the young Kamui Kobayashi at his eponymous team. His options having ran out, 'Fizzy' decided to become a sports car driver for the legendary Italian marque, sadly calling time on an F1 career that promised so much but delivered little in comparison.
The undeniable talents of the drivers who made up the 'lost' generation were squandered by the sheer brilliance of the generations either side of them. On that basis, with such a sizeable amount of capable drivers at the forefront of today's field, one has to fear that the next generation – the likes of Jaime Alguersauri, Sergio Perez and others who are yet to join the ranks of F1 – could well find themselves squeezed into the margins of the sport's history too.
17 April 2011
Chinese Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report
Lewis Hamilton stopped Sebastian Vettel's run of victories dead in its tracks as he took the chequered flag in today's race at Shanghai. The decisive factor was tyre strategy – McLaren's decision to run both Hamilton and teammate Jenson Button on three-stop strategies gave Hamilton the edge over Vettel, who made two stops. A three-stop strategy also put Mark Webber on the podium despite a disastrous qualifying session.
Vettel's scorching performance in qualifying saw him take pole position by a substantial margin ahead of the McLarens of Button and Hamilton, the latter of whom had saved a set of soft tyres by making only one run in Q3. Nico Rosberg did a brilliant job to join Hamilton on the second row for Mercedes, ahead of the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Webber's choice to not use soft tyres in Q1 combined with a lack of KERS saw him eliminated and thus languishing in 18th place.
At the beginning of the race, Vettel did not make the start he would've liked as both McLarens swarmed past the Red Bull, with Button taking the lead. Rosberg held on to fourth while Massa jumped Alonso for fifth, and not for the first time this year. The two Force Indias of Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil were next from Michael Schumacher who, from a disappointing 14th on the grid, made another great start to end the first lap up in ninth. Just behind, on lap 3, Kamui Kobayashi made use of the DRS zone, this time located on the longer back straight, to relieve Jaime Alguersauri of the final points-paying position.
This is how the order would remain in the top ten until the first round of pit-stops, with Mark Webber making surprisingly few inroads from his starting position during the initial stint. The first of the leading cars to pit was Schumacher on lap 11, followed two laps later by his Mercedes teammate Rosberg. This seemingly indicated that the German squad were going to attempt a three-stop strategy for both of their men, which turned out to be something of a shrewd move.
Button pitted from the lead on lap 15, closely shadowed by Vettel who peeled in from third place. However, as both the McLaren and Red Bull pit-crews stood outside their respective pit garages with fresh tyres at hand, Button made the appalling error of almost stopping his car at the Red Bull pit-box, before proceeding to his own several metres down the road. This faux pas, of course, cost him time, handing track position to Vettel, but both men found themselves rejoining the action behind Rosberg, who moved into what would become the lead after the first round of stops, thanks to his two extra laps on fresh tyres.
Meanwhile, Massa made good use of the DRS and KERS combination to take the lead on the road away from Hamilton at the hairpin before the pair made their stops on lap 16. For the Brazilian's teammate, however, things were not quite so easy – Schumacher, like Rosberg, had made up considerable ground to move ahead of Alonso to take sixth. The Spaniard would remain close to the seven-time champion's tail though, and after a few attempts, Alonso finally took the position back from his erstwhile rival at turn 14 on lap 25.
At the front, Rosberg continued to head the order relatively comfortably ahead of Vettel, Button, Massa and Hamilton. The leader made his second of three scheduled stops on lap 26, and after resuming fifth, he soon closed up to the back of Alonso and pressed home the advantage of newer tyres to outfox the Ferrari number one and overtake around the final corner of lap 28. Clearly struggling for pace, Button overtook Alonso on the following lap at the hairpin after the Brit made his second stop, a move emulated one lap later by his teammate Hamilton who had also taken the opportunity to change tyres.
Vettel thus retook the lead, and according to his two-stop strategy waited until lap 32 before making his second stop. The clear benefit of having fresher rubber was demonstrated once more however when he resumed not only behind Rosberg, but both McLarens as well. Massa also suffered by waiting until lap 34 to stop again, dropping behind Hamilton who was beginning to hassle his teammate Button in an all-British battle for second.
Hamilton got a good drive out of the final corner of lap 35 which allowed him to make a canny pass up the inside of the first corner, one that caught Button somewhat unawares. His pace fading, Button made his third and final stop of the day on lap 38, and Hamilton followed suit one lap later. Still leading, Rosberg made his third stop on lap 40, but it was becoming apparent that his pace was not as strong as the McLarens. Hamilton proved that point beyond a doubt by slipping up Rosberg's inside in a bold move at turn 6 on lap 42. The German then made an error at the hairpin three laps later to give another place away to Button.
Hamilton's charge continued when on lap 45, he got by Massa, who was running second on a two-stop strategy. This placed the McLaren pilot just five seconds behind Vettel, who like Massa was beginning at this stage to struggle on his wearing hard tyres. Also on something of a roll was Webber, who in the meantime also made use of an unorthodox three-stop strategy (starting the race on hard rather than soft tyres) to move quietly up the order, putting himself in contention for a strong finish. He breezed past Alonso to snatch sixth on lap 45 and set about catching the pack ahead.
Massa would become the Australian's next victim after falling foul of the much faster three-stoppers of Button and Rosberg on consecutive laps at the hairpin, although the latter's task was made somewhat easier when his opponent ran wide. Webber predictably passed the ailing Ferrari on lap 51, and followed that up with straightforward passes on both Rosberg and Button to incredibly find himself in a podium position on the penultimate lap.
The pace of his Red Bull teammate, however, was not quite as formidable – Hamilton continued to close the deficit to the leader at a rate of knots before finally making the inevitable move at turn 7 on lap 52. From there on, there was no stopping Hamilton, who romped to his first race win since last year's Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel did well to hang on to second ahead of his inspired teammate Webber, with Button coming home fourth, Rosberg fifth, Massa sixth and Alonso seventh, only just ahead of Schumacher who was yet another man to profit from three pit-stops. Rounding out the points were Vitaly Petrov after a difficult weekend for Renault, and Kobayashi who continued his solid run of finishes for Sauber.
Di Resta ended up eleventh, despite looking good for points early on, just holding on from Heidfeld who returned to earth with a thump after his podium last time out. Rubens Barrichello posted the first finish of the season for Williams in thirteenth, ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi who failed to deliver on a strong starting position of ninth. Adrian Sutil wound up fifteenth after being clattered into by an over-exuberant Sergio Perez in the latter stages, the Mexican getting slapped with a drive-through penalty for his misdemeanour.
The Sauber driver would finish in seventeenth, behind the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen but ahead of the second Williams of Pastor Maldonado. Jarno Trulli was next, from the Virgin pair of Jerome D'Ambrosio and Timo Glock, Narain Karthikeyan for Hispania and his teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi who got an early drive-through penalty for jumping the start. The race saw just one retirement in the form of Jaime Alguersauri, whose right-rear wheel departed from the rest of his Toro Rosso just after his first pit-stop.
So, after another thrilling race, the F1 circus can rest assured that Vettel and Red Bull are not completely unstoppable, as Hamilton expertly proved. He now lies second in the championship standings, 21 points behind the reigning champion, with 9 in hand from teammate Button who is just one point ahead of Webber in fourth. Only three men in the history of the sport have gone on to deny the man who won the first two races the title – Jackie Stewart in 1973, Niki Lauda in 1976 and Keke Rosberg in 1982. Hamilton will no doubt be hoping, along with several others, that he can become the fourth man to join that list.
Sadly, we now have to wait three weeks for the next round in Turkey to see whether McLaren can continue the fine form they displayed in China. In the meantime, make sure you check back here on the preceding Sundays for more intriguing articles about the world of Formula One.
Vettel's scorching performance in qualifying saw him take pole position by a substantial margin ahead of the McLarens of Button and Hamilton, the latter of whom had saved a set of soft tyres by making only one run in Q3. Nico Rosberg did a brilliant job to join Hamilton on the second row for Mercedes, ahead of the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Webber's choice to not use soft tyres in Q1 combined with a lack of KERS saw him eliminated and thus languishing in 18th place.
At the beginning of the race, Vettel did not make the start he would've liked as both McLarens swarmed past the Red Bull, with Button taking the lead. Rosberg held on to fourth while Massa jumped Alonso for fifth, and not for the first time this year. The two Force Indias of Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil were next from Michael Schumacher who, from a disappointing 14th on the grid, made another great start to end the first lap up in ninth. Just behind, on lap 3, Kamui Kobayashi made use of the DRS zone, this time located on the longer back straight, to relieve Jaime Alguersauri of the final points-paying position.
This is how the order would remain in the top ten until the first round of pit-stops, with Mark Webber making surprisingly few inroads from his starting position during the initial stint. The first of the leading cars to pit was Schumacher on lap 11, followed two laps later by his Mercedes teammate Rosberg. This seemingly indicated that the German squad were going to attempt a three-stop strategy for both of their men, which turned out to be something of a shrewd move.
Button pitted from the lead on lap 15, closely shadowed by Vettel who peeled in from third place. However, as both the McLaren and Red Bull pit-crews stood outside their respective pit garages with fresh tyres at hand, Button made the appalling error of almost stopping his car at the Red Bull pit-box, before proceeding to his own several metres down the road. This faux pas, of course, cost him time, handing track position to Vettel, but both men found themselves rejoining the action behind Rosberg, who moved into what would become the lead after the first round of stops, thanks to his two extra laps on fresh tyres.
Meanwhile, Massa made good use of the DRS and KERS combination to take the lead on the road away from Hamilton at the hairpin before the pair made their stops on lap 16. For the Brazilian's teammate, however, things were not quite so easy – Schumacher, like Rosberg, had made up considerable ground to move ahead of Alonso to take sixth. The Spaniard would remain close to the seven-time champion's tail though, and after a few attempts, Alonso finally took the position back from his erstwhile rival at turn 14 on lap 25.
At the front, Rosberg continued to head the order relatively comfortably ahead of Vettel, Button, Massa and Hamilton. The leader made his second of three scheduled stops on lap 26, and after resuming fifth, he soon closed up to the back of Alonso and pressed home the advantage of newer tyres to outfox the Ferrari number one and overtake around the final corner of lap 28. Clearly struggling for pace, Button overtook Alonso on the following lap at the hairpin after the Brit made his second stop, a move emulated one lap later by his teammate Hamilton who had also taken the opportunity to change tyres.
Vettel thus retook the lead, and according to his two-stop strategy waited until lap 32 before making his second stop. The clear benefit of having fresher rubber was demonstrated once more however when he resumed not only behind Rosberg, but both McLarens as well. Massa also suffered by waiting until lap 34 to stop again, dropping behind Hamilton who was beginning to hassle his teammate Button in an all-British battle for second.
Hamilton got a good drive out of the final corner of lap 35 which allowed him to make a canny pass up the inside of the first corner, one that caught Button somewhat unawares. His pace fading, Button made his third and final stop of the day on lap 38, and Hamilton followed suit one lap later. Still leading, Rosberg made his third stop on lap 40, but it was becoming apparent that his pace was not as strong as the McLarens. Hamilton proved that point beyond a doubt by slipping up Rosberg's inside in a bold move at turn 6 on lap 42. The German then made an error at the hairpin three laps later to give another place away to Button.
Hamilton's charge continued when on lap 45, he got by Massa, who was running second on a two-stop strategy. This placed the McLaren pilot just five seconds behind Vettel, who like Massa was beginning at this stage to struggle on his wearing hard tyres. Also on something of a roll was Webber, who in the meantime also made use of an unorthodox three-stop strategy (starting the race on hard rather than soft tyres) to move quietly up the order, putting himself in contention for a strong finish. He breezed past Alonso to snatch sixth on lap 45 and set about catching the pack ahead.
Massa would become the Australian's next victim after falling foul of the much faster three-stoppers of Button and Rosberg on consecutive laps at the hairpin, although the latter's task was made somewhat easier when his opponent ran wide. Webber predictably passed the ailing Ferrari on lap 51, and followed that up with straightforward passes on both Rosberg and Button to incredibly find himself in a podium position on the penultimate lap.
The pace of his Red Bull teammate, however, was not quite as formidable – Hamilton continued to close the deficit to the leader at a rate of knots before finally making the inevitable move at turn 7 on lap 52. From there on, there was no stopping Hamilton, who romped to his first race win since last year's Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel did well to hang on to second ahead of his inspired teammate Webber, with Button coming home fourth, Rosberg fifth, Massa sixth and Alonso seventh, only just ahead of Schumacher who was yet another man to profit from three pit-stops. Rounding out the points were Vitaly Petrov after a difficult weekend for Renault, and Kobayashi who continued his solid run of finishes for Sauber.
Di Resta ended up eleventh, despite looking good for points early on, just holding on from Heidfeld who returned to earth with a thump after his podium last time out. Rubens Barrichello posted the first finish of the season for Williams in thirteenth, ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi who failed to deliver on a strong starting position of ninth. Adrian Sutil wound up fifteenth after being clattered into by an over-exuberant Sergio Perez in the latter stages, the Mexican getting slapped with a drive-through penalty for his misdemeanour.
The Sauber driver would finish in seventeenth, behind the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen but ahead of the second Williams of Pastor Maldonado. Jarno Trulli was next, from the Virgin pair of Jerome D'Ambrosio and Timo Glock, Narain Karthikeyan for Hispania and his teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi who got an early drive-through penalty for jumping the start. The race saw just one retirement in the form of Jaime Alguersauri, whose right-rear wheel departed from the rest of his Toro Rosso just after his first pit-stop.
So, after another thrilling race, the F1 circus can rest assured that Vettel and Red Bull are not completely unstoppable, as Hamilton expertly proved. He now lies second in the championship standings, 21 points behind the reigning champion, with 9 in hand from teammate Button who is just one point ahead of Webber in fourth. Only three men in the history of the sport have gone on to deny the man who won the first two races the title – Jackie Stewart in 1973, Niki Lauda in 1976 and Keke Rosberg in 1982. Hamilton will no doubt be hoping, along with several others, that he can become the fourth man to join that list.
Sadly, we now have to wait three weeks for the next round in Turkey to see whether McLaren can continue the fine form they displayed in China. In the meantime, make sure you check back here on the preceding Sundays for more intriguing articles about the world of Formula One.
16 April 2011
Chinese Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report
Sebastian Vettel strolled to a relatively straightforward third successive pole position in the qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix, but it wasn't all plain sailing for his Red Bull team. The reigning champion's teammate, Mark Webber, will line up for the race in a lowly 18th position after a combination of a strategic error and a non-functioning KERS system left him high and dry in the first session of qualifying. Once again, it was left to McLaren to provide opposition for the seemingly unstoppable Vettel, with Jenson Button joining him on the front row from Lewis Hamilton in third place.
Q1
Button, who had been looking strong throughout the practice sessions, set the early pace with a 1'36.7, a lap that Jaime Alguersauri topped by sixth tenths of a second in his Toro Rosso with the help of the softer compound tyres. Lewis Hamilton proceeded to resume normal service atop the leaderboard, taking a tenth out of Alguersauri on the hard tyres before Button shaved a further tenth from his teammate's time. Vettel then stole the top spot by just three-hundredths of a second before improving to a 1'35.7, a time that would remain the fastest until the arrival of a late flurry of soft tyre runners, the fastest of whom was Nico Rosberg in a more promising performance by the Mercedes team. One driver that didn't feel the need to use soft tyres, in spite of not having KERS available, was Webber, but such was the advantage of the soft tyre that the Australian could only set a time good enough for 16th in his final effort. This became 17th when the other Mercedes of Michael Schumacher launched himself up the field after using the softs, and finally into the drop-zone when Pastor Maldonado clawed his way out of it for Williams. Joining Webber on the sidelines after Q1 were, as ever, all six new-team cars, all of them once more inside the 107% margin required to qualify for the race.
Eliminated – Mark Webber (Red Bull), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Timo Glock (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Narain Karthikeyan (Hispania)
Q2
Alguersauri, as in Q1, used the soft tyres from the off to put in an impressive early showing in the form of a 1'35.9 to kick off the second session of qualifying. Button got his first taste of the softer rubber and posted a time eight tenths quicker than the young Spaniard, but Hamilton was able to go another two tenths better in the sister McLaren. Vettel set a time a tenth slower than Button's at this stage for third, with Vitaly Petrov a further three tenths back in fourth position. Immediately after he set his time however, his Renault coasted to a halt on the exit of turn 4, prompting a temporary stoppage of the session. Because his car stopped on the track, even though he had done enough to secure a place in Q3, his car was taken straight to parc ferme for the remainder of the session as per the rulebook. This would consign the Russian to tenth on the grid. It was thus left to Nick Heidfeld to salvage a good position for Renault, but he was yet to post a time when the session resumed. With just over two minutes remaining on the clock, the German joined a hefty queue consisting of both of the Ferraris, Mercedes, Saubers, Williams and Force Indias at the end of the pit lane. The final man in the train, Paul Di Resta, only just crossed the start line in time to begin one last flying lap, with several cars jockeying ahead for position during the out lap in a bid to ensure a clear track. Luckily for the Scot however, he was already inside the top ten at this point, and remained there when only Nico Rosberg succeeded in escaping elimination. Schumacher would have probably done so also but for a costly mistake at the hairpin which meant he could do no better than 14th. His countryman Heidfeld could only manage a disappointing 16th after getting mired in traffic during his one and only lap of the session.
Eliminated – Adrian Sutil (Force India), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Nick Heidfeld (Renault), Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
Q3
Just two drivers chose to run twice in the all-important final qualifying session, coincidentally the last two winners of the Chinese Grand Prix – Button and Vettel. The former set his best lap yet at 1'34.4, but the latter put in an utterly blistering 1'33.7 to snatch provisional pole away. Predictably the Toro Rossos of Alguersauri and Sebastien Buemi were both two-and-a-half seconds in arrears of the reigning champion, but Di Resta did an excellent job in splitting the duo in Force India's strongest qualifying showing of the season yet. Fernando Alonso was able to place his Ferrari in a provisional third, a second-and-a-half behind Vettel, but was surprisingly demoted a place by a terrific lap from Rosberg. Hamilton appeared the only man capable of denying Vettel pole position, but a mistake around the final corner of his only lap cost him any chance of doing so, coming third ahead of Rosberg but behind both Vettel and Button. Not on course to beat the provisional pole-sitter, Button aborted his second flying lap to remain in second, whilst Vettel did likewise with no-one left to challenge his authority.
Top 10 – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Jenson Button (McLaren), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Paul Di Resta (Force India), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Vitaly Petrov (Renault)
My Prediction
It looks as if it will be a dry race, so here is my rather conservative prediction for the outcome of Sunday's race:
1. Vettel, 2. Hamilton, 3. Button, 4. Alonso, 5. Massa, 6. Petrov, 7. Rosberg, 8. Kobayashi, 9. Alguersauri, 10. Perez
Call me boring, but I just can't envisage anything except yet another emphatic Vettel triumph in light of his mighty qualifying margin. Hamilton's spare set of softs from only doing one run in Q3 should allow him to overcome Button for the runner-up spot, whilst Ferrari's reasonable race pace will see both of their men jump ahead of Rosberg. Petrov will take advantage of the pace of the Renault to beat the German too, with both Sauber drivers making good use of their cars' gentleness on its tyres to score the Swiss team a double-points finish.
Don't hesitate to leave a comment with your opinions and predictions, and we'll find out tomorrow whether Vettel can convert his third pole position of the season into his third race victory. Hope to see you tomorrow to catch up with all the events on what will hopefully be another exciting race.
Q1
Button, who had been looking strong throughout the practice sessions, set the early pace with a 1'36.7, a lap that Jaime Alguersauri topped by sixth tenths of a second in his Toro Rosso with the help of the softer compound tyres. Lewis Hamilton proceeded to resume normal service atop the leaderboard, taking a tenth out of Alguersauri on the hard tyres before Button shaved a further tenth from his teammate's time. Vettel then stole the top spot by just three-hundredths of a second before improving to a 1'35.7, a time that would remain the fastest until the arrival of a late flurry of soft tyre runners, the fastest of whom was Nico Rosberg in a more promising performance by the Mercedes team. One driver that didn't feel the need to use soft tyres, in spite of not having KERS available, was Webber, but such was the advantage of the soft tyre that the Australian could only set a time good enough for 16th in his final effort. This became 17th when the other Mercedes of Michael Schumacher launched himself up the field after using the softs, and finally into the drop-zone when Pastor Maldonado clawed his way out of it for Williams. Joining Webber on the sidelines after Q1 were, as ever, all six new-team cars, all of them once more inside the 107% margin required to qualify for the race.
Eliminated – Mark Webber (Red Bull), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Timo Glock (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Narain Karthikeyan (Hispania)
Q2
Alguersauri, as in Q1, used the soft tyres from the off to put in an impressive early showing in the form of a 1'35.9 to kick off the second session of qualifying. Button got his first taste of the softer rubber and posted a time eight tenths quicker than the young Spaniard, but Hamilton was able to go another two tenths better in the sister McLaren. Vettel set a time a tenth slower than Button's at this stage for third, with Vitaly Petrov a further three tenths back in fourth position. Immediately after he set his time however, his Renault coasted to a halt on the exit of turn 4, prompting a temporary stoppage of the session. Because his car stopped on the track, even though he had done enough to secure a place in Q3, his car was taken straight to parc ferme for the remainder of the session as per the rulebook. This would consign the Russian to tenth on the grid. It was thus left to Nick Heidfeld to salvage a good position for Renault, but he was yet to post a time when the session resumed. With just over two minutes remaining on the clock, the German joined a hefty queue consisting of both of the Ferraris, Mercedes, Saubers, Williams and Force Indias at the end of the pit lane. The final man in the train, Paul Di Resta, only just crossed the start line in time to begin one last flying lap, with several cars jockeying ahead for position during the out lap in a bid to ensure a clear track. Luckily for the Scot however, he was already inside the top ten at this point, and remained there when only Nico Rosberg succeeded in escaping elimination. Schumacher would have probably done so also but for a costly mistake at the hairpin which meant he could do no better than 14th. His countryman Heidfeld could only manage a disappointing 16th after getting mired in traffic during his one and only lap of the session.
Eliminated – Adrian Sutil (Force India), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Nick Heidfeld (Renault), Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
Q3
Just two drivers chose to run twice in the all-important final qualifying session, coincidentally the last two winners of the Chinese Grand Prix – Button and Vettel. The former set his best lap yet at 1'34.4, but the latter put in an utterly blistering 1'33.7 to snatch provisional pole away. Predictably the Toro Rossos of Alguersauri and Sebastien Buemi were both two-and-a-half seconds in arrears of the reigning champion, but Di Resta did an excellent job in splitting the duo in Force India's strongest qualifying showing of the season yet. Fernando Alonso was able to place his Ferrari in a provisional third, a second-and-a-half behind Vettel, but was surprisingly demoted a place by a terrific lap from Rosberg. Hamilton appeared the only man capable of denying Vettel pole position, but a mistake around the final corner of his only lap cost him any chance of doing so, coming third ahead of Rosberg but behind both Vettel and Button. Not on course to beat the provisional pole-sitter, Button aborted his second flying lap to remain in second, whilst Vettel did likewise with no-one left to challenge his authority.
Top 10 – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Jenson Button (McLaren), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Paul Di Resta (Force India), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Vitaly Petrov (Renault)
My Prediction
It looks as if it will be a dry race, so here is my rather conservative prediction for the outcome of Sunday's race:
1. Vettel, 2. Hamilton, 3. Button, 4. Alonso, 5. Massa, 6. Petrov, 7. Rosberg, 8. Kobayashi, 9. Alguersauri, 10. Perez
Call me boring, but I just can't envisage anything except yet another emphatic Vettel triumph in light of his mighty qualifying margin. Hamilton's spare set of softs from only doing one run in Q3 should allow him to overcome Button for the runner-up spot, whilst Ferrari's reasonable race pace will see both of their men jump ahead of Rosberg. Petrov will take advantage of the pace of the Renault to beat the German too, with both Sauber drivers making good use of their cars' gentleness on its tyres to score the Swiss team a double-points finish.
Don't hesitate to leave a comment with your opinions and predictions, and we'll find out tomorrow whether Vettel can convert his third pole position of the season into his third race victory. Hope to see you tomorrow to catch up with all the events on what will hopefully be another exciting race.
10 April 2011
Malaysian Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report
Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing successfully continued their winning ways at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia after a dry, action-packed race. Lewis Hamilton appeared to be his closest challenger, but after hitting tyre troubles it was left to his McLaren teammate Jenson Button to keep the reigning champion honest. However, Vettel had sufficient pace throughout to ensure his twelfth career victory, despite not being able to use KERS for the majority of the race.
Vettel took a narrow pole position from Hamilton on Saturday after a thrilling showdown. Mark Webber just missed out on the front row of the grid, joined on the second row by Button. Behind the four leaders were the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in fifth and seventh positions respectively, with Nick Heidfeld's Renault splitting the scarlet cars. Vitaly Petrov lined up in eighth in the second Renault, confirming the black-and-gold cars' pace.
When the race got underway, Vettel made a solid getaway to maintain his lead. Behind him though, there was a considerable reshuffle as the two Renault pilots both made astounding starts. From sixth on the grid, Heidfeld stormed around the outside of the first corner to cut in ahead of both McLarens at turn 2 to snatch second. Petrov tried to follow him, but couldn't quite emulate the feat, leaving him fifth behind Hamilton in third and Button fourth, but ahead of the Ferraris. In contrast, Mark Webber's lack of KERS from the outset consigned him to tenth by the end of lap 1 after a comparatively tardy getaway.
Vettel proceeded to pull out a comfortable advantage ahead of his countryman Heidfeld, who initially appeared to be holding up Hamilton. However, the Renault kept the Brit at bay all the way until the first round of stops as McLaren decided it was best for their man to conserve his tyres at this stage. Meanwhile, Petrov failed to hold onto fifth as the combination of Felipe Massa's Ferrari engine, KERS and DRS at turn 1 on lap 5 proved too much for the Russian. Alonso also found his way past after Petrov ran wide later on the same lap, promoting the Spaniard to sixth.
Webber, after exchanging ninth position with Kobayashi several times in the intervening laps, was the first of the top ten to make their first pit stop on lap 11. Two laps later he was joined by Hamilton, with Vettel, Heidfeld, Button and Massa all rushing into the pits too on lap 14. Massa however suffered a slow stop, putting him behind Webber as well as Alonso, who pitted a lap later to leapfrog Heidfeld as well as his teammate. Heidfeld also lost out to both of the faster McLarens in the stops.
This meant the order after the first round of stops was Vettel from the two McLarens of Hamilton and Button, Alonso, Heidfeld, Webber, Massa and Petrov. At this stage, Hamilton began to steadily narrow Vettel's advantage as it became apparent the KERS system of his Red Bull was not operating, with Button remaining just a short distance behind his teammate. Making use of his fresh tyres to particularly good effect, Alonso then began to catch up to both of the McLaren drivers, easily depriving Button of a net third position at the first corner on lap 17.
The Ferrari's race pace was further underlined by Massa taking sixth away from Webber five laps later, this time at turn 4. Webber was the only leading driver planning to make four scheduled stops, the second of which came on lap 23 which saw him get back ahead of Massa as well as Heidfeld to be in a temporary net fifth position after all the other stops. Substandard Ferrari pit-work then once again cost one of their drivers a position; this time Button retaking third from Alonso.
While Webber made his third stop on lap 33, putting him back down to seventh behind Massa, Button made up another place after his third stop to reach second at the expense of his teammate Hamilton, whose earlier switch to hard tyres had cost him dear. So much, in fact, that after Alonso's third stop, the Spaniard rapidly closed the gap to his old adversary to commence an exciting duel over the final podium place. Hamilton was able to resist Alonso's advances for a few laps with some robust defending, but it was soon evident that Hamilton was fighting a losing battle.
The decisive moment arrived on lap 46, as Alonso got a superior run out of turns 2 and 3. As the two-time champion tried to set himself up for a pass at turn 4 however, he sheared off his front wing endplate against Hamilton's right-rear wheel. Alonso was thus forced to pit for a new nose, dropping behind Heidfeld, Massa and Webber in the process. Hamilton's tyre surprisingly remained intact, but his poor pace was hardly aided by minor aerodynamic damage sustained in the collision.
This meant Heidfeld was able to easily pass Hamilton for third, and after a clever pass on Massa at turns 1 and 2, Webber did likewise to the ailing McLaren driver for fourth. After this, Hamilton made a fourth stop, dropping him to eighth, but this became seventh when Petrov annihilated his Renault's steering column after taking off and landing hard after driving over a crest in the grass run-off area of turn 8 with two laps to go.
All the while, Vettel was able to manage the closing gap to Button to secure yet another well-deserved win. Heidfeld, after fending off the rapidly-closing Webber in the final stages of the race, bagged Renault another superb podium finish. Massa finished in fifth ahead of a disappointed Alonso who remained sixth after a 20-second penalty for his part in the incident with Hamilton. The despondent Brit also received a similar penalty for weaving, dropping him to eighth behind Kobayashi.
Schumacher came home ninth on a bitterly disappointing weekend for Mercedes, the team simply lacking raw speed. Di Resta clinched the final point for tenth place after another fine effort. The other Force India of Adrian Sutil recovered to eleventh after an early collision with Rubens Barrichello which necessitated a stop for a new nose. Barrichello was forced to complete the majority of lap 1 with no rear-left tyre on his Williams, before eventually succumbing to gearbox failure twenty-five laps in. This compounded a miserable race for Williams as Pastor Maldonado retired just ten laps in with mechanical failure.
Nico Rosberg came twelfth in the other struggling Mercedes, ahead of the Toro Rosso pair of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersauri, Buemi not helped by a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for pit-lane speeding and shedding bodywork that accounted for Sergio Perez's race. Heikki Kovalainen for Lotus and Timo Glock for Virgin completed the list of finishers, with their respective teammates as well as both Hispanias retiring with various mechanical woes.
As for the rule changes, admittedly DRS did make a significant contribution to today's action after a slow start at Melbourne, although some are already complaining that the system combined with KERS makes overtaking too easy. On the point of KERS, while it's true that Vettel won without use of the device for much of the race, looking at Webber one would have to presume the German would definitely not have been leading the race to begin with without it for that all-important run to the first corner.
While Vettel now enjoys a 24-point advantage over Button and the rest in the championship standings, the Malaysian Grand Prix at least reassured us that Red Bull are not as dominant as we first perhaps feared. McLaren and Ferrari seem to be a match for the Anglo-Austrian cars in race trim – with seventeen rounds still to run the championship is still wide open. We only have to wait a week until the third round of the championship at the Shanghai International Circuit, China, to see if either of Formula One's two most illustrious teams can finally bring the Vettel steam-roller to a halt.
Vettel took a narrow pole position from Hamilton on Saturday after a thrilling showdown. Mark Webber just missed out on the front row of the grid, joined on the second row by Button. Behind the four leaders were the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in fifth and seventh positions respectively, with Nick Heidfeld's Renault splitting the scarlet cars. Vitaly Petrov lined up in eighth in the second Renault, confirming the black-and-gold cars' pace.
When the race got underway, Vettel made a solid getaway to maintain his lead. Behind him though, there was a considerable reshuffle as the two Renault pilots both made astounding starts. From sixth on the grid, Heidfeld stormed around the outside of the first corner to cut in ahead of both McLarens at turn 2 to snatch second. Petrov tried to follow him, but couldn't quite emulate the feat, leaving him fifth behind Hamilton in third and Button fourth, but ahead of the Ferraris. In contrast, Mark Webber's lack of KERS from the outset consigned him to tenth by the end of lap 1 after a comparatively tardy getaway.
Vettel proceeded to pull out a comfortable advantage ahead of his countryman Heidfeld, who initially appeared to be holding up Hamilton. However, the Renault kept the Brit at bay all the way until the first round of stops as McLaren decided it was best for their man to conserve his tyres at this stage. Meanwhile, Petrov failed to hold onto fifth as the combination of Felipe Massa's Ferrari engine, KERS and DRS at turn 1 on lap 5 proved too much for the Russian. Alonso also found his way past after Petrov ran wide later on the same lap, promoting the Spaniard to sixth.
Webber, after exchanging ninth position with Kobayashi several times in the intervening laps, was the first of the top ten to make their first pit stop on lap 11. Two laps later he was joined by Hamilton, with Vettel, Heidfeld, Button and Massa all rushing into the pits too on lap 14. Massa however suffered a slow stop, putting him behind Webber as well as Alonso, who pitted a lap later to leapfrog Heidfeld as well as his teammate. Heidfeld also lost out to both of the faster McLarens in the stops.
This meant the order after the first round of stops was Vettel from the two McLarens of Hamilton and Button, Alonso, Heidfeld, Webber, Massa and Petrov. At this stage, Hamilton began to steadily narrow Vettel's advantage as it became apparent the KERS system of his Red Bull was not operating, with Button remaining just a short distance behind his teammate. Making use of his fresh tyres to particularly good effect, Alonso then began to catch up to both of the McLaren drivers, easily depriving Button of a net third position at the first corner on lap 17.
The Ferrari's race pace was further underlined by Massa taking sixth away from Webber five laps later, this time at turn 4. Webber was the only leading driver planning to make four scheduled stops, the second of which came on lap 23 which saw him get back ahead of Massa as well as Heidfeld to be in a temporary net fifth position after all the other stops. Substandard Ferrari pit-work then once again cost one of their drivers a position; this time Button retaking third from Alonso.
While Webber made his third stop on lap 33, putting him back down to seventh behind Massa, Button made up another place after his third stop to reach second at the expense of his teammate Hamilton, whose earlier switch to hard tyres had cost him dear. So much, in fact, that after Alonso's third stop, the Spaniard rapidly closed the gap to his old adversary to commence an exciting duel over the final podium place. Hamilton was able to resist Alonso's advances for a few laps with some robust defending, but it was soon evident that Hamilton was fighting a losing battle.
The decisive moment arrived on lap 46, as Alonso got a superior run out of turns 2 and 3. As the two-time champion tried to set himself up for a pass at turn 4 however, he sheared off his front wing endplate against Hamilton's right-rear wheel. Alonso was thus forced to pit for a new nose, dropping behind Heidfeld, Massa and Webber in the process. Hamilton's tyre surprisingly remained intact, but his poor pace was hardly aided by minor aerodynamic damage sustained in the collision.
This meant Heidfeld was able to easily pass Hamilton for third, and after a clever pass on Massa at turns 1 and 2, Webber did likewise to the ailing McLaren driver for fourth. After this, Hamilton made a fourth stop, dropping him to eighth, but this became seventh when Petrov annihilated his Renault's steering column after taking off and landing hard after driving over a crest in the grass run-off area of turn 8 with two laps to go.
All the while, Vettel was able to manage the closing gap to Button to secure yet another well-deserved win. Heidfeld, after fending off the rapidly-closing Webber in the final stages of the race, bagged Renault another superb podium finish. Massa finished in fifth ahead of a disappointed Alonso who remained sixth after a 20-second penalty for his part in the incident with Hamilton. The despondent Brit also received a similar penalty for weaving, dropping him to eighth behind Kobayashi.
Schumacher came home ninth on a bitterly disappointing weekend for Mercedes, the team simply lacking raw speed. Di Resta clinched the final point for tenth place after another fine effort. The other Force India of Adrian Sutil recovered to eleventh after an early collision with Rubens Barrichello which necessitated a stop for a new nose. Barrichello was forced to complete the majority of lap 1 with no rear-left tyre on his Williams, before eventually succumbing to gearbox failure twenty-five laps in. This compounded a miserable race for Williams as Pastor Maldonado retired just ten laps in with mechanical failure.
Nico Rosberg came twelfth in the other struggling Mercedes, ahead of the Toro Rosso pair of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersauri, Buemi not helped by a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for pit-lane speeding and shedding bodywork that accounted for Sergio Perez's race. Heikki Kovalainen for Lotus and Timo Glock for Virgin completed the list of finishers, with their respective teammates as well as both Hispanias retiring with various mechanical woes.
As for the rule changes, admittedly DRS did make a significant contribution to today's action after a slow start at Melbourne, although some are already complaining that the system combined with KERS makes overtaking too easy. On the point of KERS, while it's true that Vettel won without use of the device for much of the race, looking at Webber one would have to presume the German would definitely not have been leading the race to begin with without it for that all-important run to the first corner.
While Vettel now enjoys a 24-point advantage over Button and the rest in the championship standings, the Malaysian Grand Prix at least reassured us that Red Bull are not as dominant as we first perhaps feared. McLaren and Ferrari seem to be a match for the Anglo-Austrian cars in race trim – with seventeen rounds still to run the championship is still wide open. We only have to wait a week until the third round of the championship at the Shanghai International Circuit, China, to see if either of Formula One's two most illustrious teams can finally bring the Vettel steam-roller to a halt.
9 April 2011
Malaysian Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report
Sebastian Vettel will once again begin tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix from pole position, but he didn't take the top spot by such a convincing margin as he did two weeks ago. He only beat McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, once again his closest adversary, by a margin of just over a tenth of a second. With the pair's respective teammates Mark Webber and Jenson Button lining up next, both within four tenths of a second of Vettel's pole time, everything would appear in place for a classic Red Bull vs. McLaren confrontation.
Q1
Hamilton was the first of the pole contenders to post a time of a 1'37.4, while the sister McLaren of Button could only get within half a second of his teammate. Mark Webber's first effort left him almost an entire second behind Hamilton's benchmark, though the Aussie's teammate Vettel came within two-thousandths of a second of usurping Hamilton before the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi shed a large chunk of its left-hand sidepod onto the circuit, prompting a red flag. After the debris was cleared, Ferrari, admittedly off the pace, took the decision to send its drivers out on soft tyres, allowing Felipe Massa to put up a 1'36.7 which transpired to be the fastest time of the session despite both McLarens following suit with soft tyres. Red Bull meanwhile opted not to use up a set of softs, leaving Webber in a somewhat precarious fifteenth position by session's end. However, it was the usual suspects who found themselves eliminated – Lotus, Virgin and Hispania all went no further, though the latter looked rather more convincing than last time with both of their men qualifying comfortably within 107% of Massa. The only other man to fall was Pastor Maldonado, with both of the Williams cars looking on the back foot.
Eliminated – Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Timo Glock (Virgin), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Narain Karthikeyan (Hispania)
Q2
Reverting to hard tyres, Hamilton was again out early in the session to record a 1'37.3, a time then beaten by over a second by Webber who made use of the advantage of the soft tyres. Vettel managed to take a further tenth off of his teammate, but Button surprised everybody by slashing four tenths off the championship leader's time to assume first. He would remain there for the remainder of the session, with even Hamilton only coming within three tenths of his teammate when he went out on his soft tyres. Both Ferraris and Renaults made the cut, as did Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, but Michael Schumacher for the second time in as many races will begin the race eleventh position, unable to quite do enough to deny Kamui Kobayashi and his Sauber a place in Q3. Neither the Toro Rossos nor the Force Indias were fast enough, all four drivers getting eliminated along with the Williams of Rubens Barrichello and the second Sauber of Sergio Perez.
Eliminated – Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Paul Di Resta (Force India), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Adrian Sutil (Force India)
Q3
With only the pole-contending McLarens and Red Bulls posting two times, they were the only cars to go out in the first part of the session. Hamilton set the standard with a 1'35.0, a time that none of his three rivals could initially match, though they were all within three tenths. After a lengthy pause, the other six cars all left the pits to record their only times, with the leading quartet emerging to decide pole position with a second effort each. Webber and Button both failed to improve on third and fourth positions, so it was thus left to Vettel to challenge Hamilton, who improved on his time by another tenth, to maintain provisional pole. The young German was however able to scrape together one final tenth to overcome the Brit and take his seventeenth career pole. Further back, Fernando Alonso assumed the mantle of 'best of the rest' in fifth for Ferrari, ahead of Renault's Nick Heidfeld who put the disaster of two weeks ago behind him with sixth. Massa and Vitaly Petrov line up behind their respective teammates ahead of Rosberg and Kobayashi.
Top 10 – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Jenson Button (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Nick Heidfeld (Renault), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
My Prediction
As is always the case at Malaysia, there is a distinct possibility of a wet race tomorrow. If that is indeed the case, so runs my prediction:
1. Hamilton, 2. Vettel, 3. Button, 4. Alonso, 5. Heidfeld, 6. Kobayashi, 7. Schumacher, 8. Rosberg, 9. Buemi, 10. Alguersauri
Hamilton, as he has proved on numerous occasions, is a master of wet conditions, and Button is no slouch either, particularly when it comes to the business of shrewd strategy calls. The rain usually brings several high-profile casualties – I've picked Webber, Massa and Petrov as the likely candidates to end their races in the wall or the gravel trap. Kobayashi and Schumacher will be able to use the rain to make considerable gains, whilst Heidfeld will prove his dependability by keeping his car pointing in the right direction for a solid result.
So, all the ingredients look to be in place for a classic confrontation in Malaysia tomorrow. Don't forget to catch up on all the action right here – there promises to be plenty of it.
3 April 2011
The New Faces of 2011
At last weekend's race at Melbourne, four drivers with whom you may be unfamiliar each took their inaugural Formula One start: Pastor Maldonado, Paul Di Resta, Sergio Perez and Jerome D'Ambrosio. In this post, allow me to tell you how they reached the pinnacle of motorsport, how they're likely to get on this year and what kind of future our sport may hold for them.
Pastor Maldonado
As with most South American drivers, Venezuela's Pastor Maldonado made the trip to Europe to make his name in motorsport, competing in low-level Italian series before coming within a technical infringement of winning the World Series by Renault in 2006. He moved up to GP2 with Trident Racing in 2007, finished only eleventh in the points standings after breaking his collarbone, but finished an impressive fifth place for Piquet Sports in 2007. Strangely, he then found himself outshone by his less experienced teammate and eventual champion Nico Hulkenberg the following season at ART Grand Prix, but after returning to the renamed Rapax team in 2010, Maldonado finally took the GP2 title on the fourth time of asking. All in all, a solid, albeit not a sparkling record in the junior formulae in comparison to his forerunners as GP2 champion.
Ironically, Maldonado's F1 berth at Williams has come at the expense of his former ART stable-mate Hulkenberg, whose impressive performances last year have led to accusations that the Grove-based team has chosen cash over talent in its unpopular decision to dump the young German. Obviously, Maldonado does bring considerable financial backing from PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company, to the table, but sponsorship and talent don't have to be mutually exclusive. Indeed, few would have predicted that the rookie would have out-qualified his teammate Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver in the history of the sport, on his debut. Though it would be very surprising to see Maldonado best the Brazilian over the course of an entire season, expect more than the odd occasion where Maldonado gives Barrichello a serious run for his money, particularly at Monaco where the Venezuelan has a formidable record in the junior formulae.
As for the future, it seems likely that Maldonado will remain put at Williams for at least next year; unless he seriously underperforms, the team will in all likelihood be eager to hang on to the PDVSA cash he brings. Of course, where he can progress from there largely depends on the success he enjoys at Williams. If he was to consistently outdo Barrichello next year (assuming the pair remain teammates), his market value would receive a considerable boost. Sadly, his options thereafter would still look to be somewhat limited, given the elite crop of drivers currently occupying the plum seats of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Maldonado would have to prove with either Williams or a similar midfield squad that he has what it takes to compete at that standard before being given the chance to mix it with the very best of them.
Paul Di Resta
Britain's latest in a long line of F1 talent, Paul Di Resta has taken a rather unorthodox route to reach the highest level. After competing in British Formula Renault and taking the 2006 Formula Three Euroseries title ahead of a certain Mr. Vettel, rather than making the leap to GP2, Di Resta began a rather successful career racing in the DTM (German Touring Cars) championship. Taken under the wing of Mercedes-Benz, Di Resta turned more than a few heads by finishing fifth in the 2007 championship in a two-year old C Class. This led to his promotion to the most up-to-date machinery for 2008, at last taking the championship in 2010 alongside testing duties for Force India. His impressive performances in practice sessions, no doubt along with some casual nudges from Mercedes-Benz, their engine supplier, led to Di Resta being confirmed alongside Adrian Sutil for 2011.
There was a sizable degree of competition for the Force India seat, with incumbent Vitantonio Liuzzi, and the unemployed Germans of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Hulkenberg all vying for the place that eventually went Di Resta's way after much winter-time speculation. Now it's up to the Brit to prove himself worthy of that seat, and by last Sunday's evidence he looks to be just that after keeping Sutil honest for most of the race, even out-qualifying him as fellow debutant Maldonado managed with his own teammate. As per the Venezuelan however, for Di Resta to beat his more experienced colleague would be something of a tall order. If he can regularly get the better of his fellow rookies Maldonado and Perez in what is considered to be an inferior car however, that could definitely be considered a job well done for the Scot.
With the spectre of Hulkenberg, Force India's current reserve driver, looming large however, Di Resta's future at Vijay Mallya's team is far from certain. That's exactly where his Mercedes-Benz connections may one day just come in handy though. Di Resta is already understood to be available as a reserve at Mercedes GP should the need arise (with Hulkenberg filling the void left at Force India), and if the Brit were to be dropped by Force India, there's a strong chance Di Resta could become the German manufacturer's official reserve, or perhaps even second driver alongside Nico Rosberg when Michael Schumacher decides enough is enough. With such machinery at his disposal, we will hopefully discover whether Di Resta has what it takes to succeed Hamilton and Button in Britain's lineage of F1 heroes.
Sergio Perez
Originating from Mexico, Sergio Perez, like Maldonado, came to Europe to ply his trade by competing in Formula BMW and then obliterating all comers in the 'National Class' (for older-spec cars) of the British Formula Three series. Having come not far away from depriving Jaime Alguersauri of the main 2008 British Formula Three crown, Perez progressed to GP2 the following year for the Arden team, but failed to make much an impression save for two podiums at Valencia. Luckily, he was scooped up by the crack Addax squad for 2010, only coming second in the title run-in to the far more experienced Maldonado in a mightily impressive campaign. On the strength of this record, arguably Perez would seem to have more potential than either the Venezuelan or Di Resta, and events at Melbourne last weekend would equally strengthen that assertion.
The Mexican was the only driver in the field to get away with making a solitary stop to change tyres, whilst all the other finishers either made two or three visits to the pits. That means Perez completed a hefty 38 laps on soft rubber, even having enough pace to beat teammate Kamui Kobayashi to the chequered flag before the extremely unfortunate disqualification of both Sauber men. Though it's been speculated that the Sauber is one of the kindest on its tyres of this year's cars, Perez's knack for keeping his tyres in good shape could prove invaluable over the course of the season. If he can keep up the kind of form demonstrated a week ago, then don't be at all surprised if Perez can outscore Kobayashi this season and truly mark himself out as one to watch.
If Perez does indeed do that, then a move to Ferrari in 2012 isn't out of the question. It's no secret that current Ferrari number two Felipe Massa is under pressure to improve this season or else seek alternative employment; Perez could be an attractive replacement. He is part of Ferrari's young driver scheme after all, and he'd be a perfect fit – initially he could hone his skills whilst taking a subordinate role to Fernando Alonso, before either mounting his own title challenge with the Prancing Horse or elsewhere if his contract forbids him from doing so. His form at Sauber this year will naturally dictate his options for next year, but if Perez continues to shine in the way he did at Melbourne, the above scenario could well become fairly close to reality.
Jerome D'Ambrosio
After conquering the Formula Renault series in his native Belgium, Jerome D'Ambrosio proceeded to hone his skills in the equivalent French and Italian championships. After moderate success, he finally reached GP2 via the unusual path of the little-known Euroseries 3000 (now known as Auto GP) and International Formula Master championships, the latter of which he won commandingly in 2007. He was signed up by the French DAMS team in GP2, finishing eleventh in the points with two podiums in his first season in 2008. He moved up to ninth with three podiums the year after, but despite a win at Monaco in 2010, the Belgian slipped back to eleventh. However, four late-season Friday practice outings for Virgin Racing were enough to see D'Ambrosio promoted to the race seat alongside Timo Glock in 2011.
Like his predecessor Lucas Di Gassi however, D'Ambrosio finds himself in something of a predicament. Driving the least competitive car in the field bar the Hispania, and with such a highly-rated teammate as Glock in the other side of the garage, he is going to have precious few opportunities to prove himself. After a year in similar circumstances (with a much more impressive GP2 record as well), Di Grassi has found himself out of a race seat in 2011 after an anonymous season with Virgin last year – a fate that could easily befall D'Ambrosio. Beating Glock, or indeed anybody but the two Hispanias appears to be fantasy for the Belgian at the moment, so all he can hope to achieve is to consistently bring the car home not too far adrift of those ahead.
Luckily for D'Ambrosio however, he is part of the Gravity management scheme, which provides him with a valuable link to the Renault team. The Anglo-French outfit would be able to give the F1 fraternity a far clearer idea of his skill, but with the team ascending the ranks of the pecking order, competition for the two seats is likely to be rife when the contracts of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov expire at the end of next year. If Virgin dispense with him, the best D'Ambrosio could expect is to become the Renault reserve driver for 2012 with a possibility of a race seat in 2013. That's quite a big ask though, particularly as the casual observer will be tempted to write him off if things fail to improve at Virgin. But to do so would be a tad unfair. Those in the know will reserve their judgement of D'Ambrosio until he is able to get behind the wheel of something more competitive than the Virgin he drives this year.
Don't forget to vote on the poll to have your say as to which of this year's rookies will come out on top in the championship standings. Check back on Saturday morning for a round-up of the qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, a race that promises to be a thriller.
Pastor Maldonado
As with most South American drivers, Venezuela's Pastor Maldonado made the trip to Europe to make his name in motorsport, competing in low-level Italian series before coming within a technical infringement of winning the World Series by Renault in 2006. He moved up to GP2 with Trident Racing in 2007, finished only eleventh in the points standings after breaking his collarbone, but finished an impressive fifth place for Piquet Sports in 2007. Strangely, he then found himself outshone by his less experienced teammate and eventual champion Nico Hulkenberg the following season at ART Grand Prix, but after returning to the renamed Rapax team in 2010, Maldonado finally took the GP2 title on the fourth time of asking. All in all, a solid, albeit not a sparkling record in the junior formulae in comparison to his forerunners as GP2 champion.
Ironically, Maldonado's F1 berth at Williams has come at the expense of his former ART stable-mate Hulkenberg, whose impressive performances last year have led to accusations that the Grove-based team has chosen cash over talent in its unpopular decision to dump the young German. Obviously, Maldonado does bring considerable financial backing from PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company, to the table, but sponsorship and talent don't have to be mutually exclusive. Indeed, few would have predicted that the rookie would have out-qualified his teammate Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver in the history of the sport, on his debut. Though it would be very surprising to see Maldonado best the Brazilian over the course of an entire season, expect more than the odd occasion where Maldonado gives Barrichello a serious run for his money, particularly at Monaco where the Venezuelan has a formidable record in the junior formulae.
As for the future, it seems likely that Maldonado will remain put at Williams for at least next year; unless he seriously underperforms, the team will in all likelihood be eager to hang on to the PDVSA cash he brings. Of course, where he can progress from there largely depends on the success he enjoys at Williams. If he was to consistently outdo Barrichello next year (assuming the pair remain teammates), his market value would receive a considerable boost. Sadly, his options thereafter would still look to be somewhat limited, given the elite crop of drivers currently occupying the plum seats of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Maldonado would have to prove with either Williams or a similar midfield squad that he has what it takes to compete at that standard before being given the chance to mix it with the very best of them.
Paul Di Resta
Britain's latest in a long line of F1 talent, Paul Di Resta has taken a rather unorthodox route to reach the highest level. After competing in British Formula Renault and taking the 2006 Formula Three Euroseries title ahead of a certain Mr. Vettel, rather than making the leap to GP2, Di Resta began a rather successful career racing in the DTM (German Touring Cars) championship. Taken under the wing of Mercedes-Benz, Di Resta turned more than a few heads by finishing fifth in the 2007 championship in a two-year old C Class. This led to his promotion to the most up-to-date machinery for 2008, at last taking the championship in 2010 alongside testing duties for Force India. His impressive performances in practice sessions, no doubt along with some casual nudges from Mercedes-Benz, their engine supplier, led to Di Resta being confirmed alongside Adrian Sutil for 2011.
There was a sizable degree of competition for the Force India seat, with incumbent Vitantonio Liuzzi, and the unemployed Germans of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Hulkenberg all vying for the place that eventually went Di Resta's way after much winter-time speculation. Now it's up to the Brit to prove himself worthy of that seat, and by last Sunday's evidence he looks to be just that after keeping Sutil honest for most of the race, even out-qualifying him as fellow debutant Maldonado managed with his own teammate. As per the Venezuelan however, for Di Resta to beat his more experienced colleague would be something of a tall order. If he can regularly get the better of his fellow rookies Maldonado and Perez in what is considered to be an inferior car however, that could definitely be considered a job well done for the Scot.
With the spectre of Hulkenberg, Force India's current reserve driver, looming large however, Di Resta's future at Vijay Mallya's team is far from certain. That's exactly where his Mercedes-Benz connections may one day just come in handy though. Di Resta is already understood to be available as a reserve at Mercedes GP should the need arise (with Hulkenberg filling the void left at Force India), and if the Brit were to be dropped by Force India, there's a strong chance Di Resta could become the German manufacturer's official reserve, or perhaps even second driver alongside Nico Rosberg when Michael Schumacher decides enough is enough. With such machinery at his disposal, we will hopefully discover whether Di Resta has what it takes to succeed Hamilton and Button in Britain's lineage of F1 heroes.
Sergio Perez
Originating from Mexico, Sergio Perez, like Maldonado, came to Europe to ply his trade by competing in Formula BMW and then obliterating all comers in the 'National Class' (for older-spec cars) of the British Formula Three series. Having come not far away from depriving Jaime Alguersauri of the main 2008 British Formula Three crown, Perez progressed to GP2 the following year for the Arden team, but failed to make much an impression save for two podiums at Valencia. Luckily, he was scooped up by the crack Addax squad for 2010, only coming second in the title run-in to the far more experienced Maldonado in a mightily impressive campaign. On the strength of this record, arguably Perez would seem to have more potential than either the Venezuelan or Di Resta, and events at Melbourne last weekend would equally strengthen that assertion.
The Mexican was the only driver in the field to get away with making a solitary stop to change tyres, whilst all the other finishers either made two or three visits to the pits. That means Perez completed a hefty 38 laps on soft rubber, even having enough pace to beat teammate Kamui Kobayashi to the chequered flag before the extremely unfortunate disqualification of both Sauber men. Though it's been speculated that the Sauber is one of the kindest on its tyres of this year's cars, Perez's knack for keeping his tyres in good shape could prove invaluable over the course of the season. If he can keep up the kind of form demonstrated a week ago, then don't be at all surprised if Perez can outscore Kobayashi this season and truly mark himself out as one to watch.
If Perez does indeed do that, then a move to Ferrari in 2012 isn't out of the question. It's no secret that current Ferrari number two Felipe Massa is under pressure to improve this season or else seek alternative employment; Perez could be an attractive replacement. He is part of Ferrari's young driver scheme after all, and he'd be a perfect fit – initially he could hone his skills whilst taking a subordinate role to Fernando Alonso, before either mounting his own title challenge with the Prancing Horse or elsewhere if his contract forbids him from doing so. His form at Sauber this year will naturally dictate his options for next year, but if Perez continues to shine in the way he did at Melbourne, the above scenario could well become fairly close to reality.
Jerome D'Ambrosio
After conquering the Formula Renault series in his native Belgium, Jerome D'Ambrosio proceeded to hone his skills in the equivalent French and Italian championships. After moderate success, he finally reached GP2 via the unusual path of the little-known Euroseries 3000 (now known as Auto GP) and International Formula Master championships, the latter of which he won commandingly in 2007. He was signed up by the French DAMS team in GP2, finishing eleventh in the points with two podiums in his first season in 2008. He moved up to ninth with three podiums the year after, but despite a win at Monaco in 2010, the Belgian slipped back to eleventh. However, four late-season Friday practice outings for Virgin Racing were enough to see D'Ambrosio promoted to the race seat alongside Timo Glock in 2011.
Like his predecessor Lucas Di Gassi however, D'Ambrosio finds himself in something of a predicament. Driving the least competitive car in the field bar the Hispania, and with such a highly-rated teammate as Glock in the other side of the garage, he is going to have precious few opportunities to prove himself. After a year in similar circumstances (with a much more impressive GP2 record as well), Di Grassi has found himself out of a race seat in 2011 after an anonymous season with Virgin last year – a fate that could easily befall D'Ambrosio. Beating Glock, or indeed anybody but the two Hispanias appears to be fantasy for the Belgian at the moment, so all he can hope to achieve is to consistently bring the car home not too far adrift of those ahead.
Luckily for D'Ambrosio however, he is part of the Gravity management scheme, which provides him with a valuable link to the Renault team. The Anglo-French outfit would be able to give the F1 fraternity a far clearer idea of his skill, but with the team ascending the ranks of the pecking order, competition for the two seats is likely to be rife when the contracts of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov expire at the end of next year. If Virgin dispense with him, the best D'Ambrosio could expect is to become the Renault reserve driver for 2012 with a possibility of a race seat in 2013. That's quite a big ask though, particularly as the casual observer will be tempted to write him off if things fail to improve at Virgin. But to do so would be a tad unfair. Those in the know will reserve their judgement of D'Ambrosio until he is able to get behind the wheel of something more competitive than the Virgin he drives this year.
Don't forget to vote on the poll to have your say as to which of this year's rookies will come out on top in the championship standings. Check back on Saturday morning for a round-up of the qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, a race that promises to be a thriller.
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