Hungarian Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report

Jenson Button celebrated his two-hundredth race start in the best possible way with a fantastic victory in changing conditions at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Button's McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton seized the early advantage, but ultimately an ill-fated decision to switch to intermediate tyres cost him any chance of remaining in contention. He ended up behind Sebastian Vettel, who extended his championship lead, and Fernando Alonso who completed the podium.

After a disappointing last race for Vettel, normal service appeared to have been resumed during qualifying as the German secured his eighth pole position of the season. Hamilton's qualifying lap was good enough to see him line up alongside on the front row, ahead of Button and the two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Alonso. Webber's disappointing pace meant he would begin sixth at the very place his last race win was achieved.

A light rain shower before the start of the race had dampened the circuit, obliging the entire field to begin on intermediate tyres. As the lights went out, Vettel was able to hold on to his advantage, whilst Button very nearly made use of his superior getaway to pass Hamilton for second. He however decided discretion to be the better part of valour at the second corner, unlike Nico Rosberg who charged from seventh to fourth place by the end of the first lap, passing Webber and both Ferraris.

Hamilton was able to latch on to the back of Vettel almost immediately, putting the Red Bull ace under considerable pressure. He finally cracked as he ran wide at turn 2 on the fifth lap, allowing Hamilton into a lead that he would stretch to around six seconds by the time of his initial pitstop. In that time, Alonso had found his way back ahead of Rosberg for fourth place for a second time after running wide after doing so the first time, whilst the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa span his way down to ninth place at turn 2 on lap 8, inflicting minor damage on his rear wing in the process.

With the track drying, Webber and Massa were the first to change on to dry tyres at the end of lap 10. Within the next two laps, all the rest of top eight had followed suit, with Michael Schumacher staying out for an additional lap to briefly lead the race. Hamilton retained his lead ahead of Vettel, Button, Alonso and Webber, who moved ahead of Rosberg during the stops into fifth. Vettel appeared to be struggling for pace, and on lap 14 was passed at turn 2 by Button, while Webber also deprived Alonso of fourth.

Hamilton had pulled out an advantage of roughly 9 seconds by lap 21, but in the next five laps, his teammate had eroded over half of the gap as he struggled with wear on the super-soft tyres. The race leader made his second stop on lap 26, a lap after the battling duo of Alonso and Webber, a lap before Button, and two before Vettel. With the top three having become rather spread out at this stage, the most fierce on-track battle was between Webber and Alonso for fourth.

The Spaniard went for an early third stop for fresh super-softs, coming in on lap 36. Vettel and Webber both decided to opt for the harder soft tyres, pitting on laps 41 and 39 respectively, but the gains made by Alonso were enough to propel his Ferrari past both Red Bulls into third. Hamilton and Button held their one-two formation after pitting on laps 40 and 42, with the McLaren team hedging their bets by putting the former on super-softs and the latter on softs.

Once on fresh tyres, Hamilton had stretched his lead to 6.5 seconds, but this evaporated when the race leader span his car at the chicane on lap 47. The rain had returned on the far side of the circuit, and a wheel-to-wheel battle between the teammates ensued over the next couple of laps. Both exchanged the lead of the race several times, but the battle was eventually decided in favour of Button as it became apparent that Hamilton's tyres were too worn to sustain the fight. With the rain still falling, he threw the dice and equipped his car with intermediate tyres when he made his fourth stop on lap 52.

This turned out to be the wrong call: Alonso, who had previously fallen back behind Vettel on lap 45 after the German sailed around his outside at turn 1, passed his arch-rival on lap 54 as the rain subsided, hobbling those who had switched to intermediates. He returned to the pits at the end of the lap for soft tyres, but was then slapped with a drive-through penalty as the stewards judged his rejoining of the track after his earlier spin to be dangerous. This dropped him down to sixth behind Massa and Webber.

At the front, Button now comfortably led from Vettel, both of whom had decided not to pit for intermediates when the rain fell, with Alonso in third after making a fourth stop for softs on lap 47. Webber had also taken the plunge onto intermediates, dropping him behind Massa, but the Brazilian's worn super-softs meant the Red Bull pilot was then able to recover fourth with relative ease. Hamilton also didn't take long to find a way past Massa, whose tyres by this point were crying enough; he made his final stop of the afternoon at the end of lap 58. Five laps later, Hamilton also overtook Webber at turn 12, but despite a late spin from Alonso, the gap ahead was too large to do anything about.

There was also nothing Vettel could do to stop Button, who cruised home to his eleventh career victory. Alonso took his fourth consecutive podium finish with third, from Hamilton, Webber and Massa. Paul Di Resta made a good start and drove well throughout to take seventh for Force India, passing Rosberg who was another to take the gamble of intermediate tyres. The Mercedes driver finished in ninth, with the Toro Rossos of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersauri finishing either side, representing a particularly impressive outing for Buemi, who began the race from 23^rd place.

Kamui Kobayashi's strategy backfired as he began to haemorrhage places in the closing stages on extremely worn tyres, meaning he finished in eleventh ahead of Vitaly Petrov who endured a poor race for Renault, and Rubens Barrichello for Williams. Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez both squandered their top ten starting positions on the first lap, consigning themselves to fourteenth and fifteenth places. The Mexican also earned himself a drive-through penalty for attempting to overtake the Force India driver under yellow flags, while Pastor Maldonado received a similar fate for speeding in the pit-lane. He ended up sixteenth ahead of Timo Glock for Virgin, Daniel Ricciardo for Hispania, Jerome D'Ambrosio, who almost entered his pit-box sideways at one stage at the wheel of the other Virgin, and Vitantonio Liuzzi in the second Hispania. Neither Lotus made the finish as both cars fell foul of mechanical woes, while Germans Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld also retired – the former suffered a gearbox failure after some contact with Massa early on, whilst the latter's Renault set on fire as he left the pits, his KERS battery reportedly exploding not long after he leapt out of the cockpit. Thankfully, neither Heidfeld nor the marshals that attended the stricken Renault were injured.
Vettel's championship lead now stands at a mighty 85 points over Webber after another somewhat lacklustre performance from the Australian, with Hamilton sitting just a further three behind in third, one point ahead of Alonso. For anybody to take the fight to Vettel surely now requires a minor miracle, mostly because of the frustrating inconsistency of the other supposed title contenders. With Alonso, Hamilton and Button having won one race apiece in the last three, one of them needs to step up to the plate after the summer break before the last glimmer of hope of toppling Vettel fades. Over to you, gentlemen.

Hungarian Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report

Sebastian Vettel took his eighth pole position of the year during the qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The championship leader was able to rise to the challenge of McLaren pairing Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, who took second and third places on the grid, to continue his Red Bull team's perfect streak of poles during the 2011 season.

Q1

Due to the twisty nature of the Hungaroring circuit, Pirelli opted to bring their two softest tyre compounds for use this weekend – softs and super-softs. Vettel led the early going with a lap of 1'22.4 on the former variety, but Hamilton didn't take long to better that effort by eight tenths of a second. Mark Webber appeared somewhat at sea with a time 1.3 adrift of the Brit, only a tenth clear of the Mercedes drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. This meant the Australian was also considerably slower than Button, as well as the Ferrari pairing of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was in fact the only man capable of dethroning Hamilton in Q1, substantially improving his first time to beat his arch-rival by half-a-tenth. None of the Red Bull, McLaren or Ferrari drivers felt the need to use the super-softs during Q1, but that certainly wasn't the case for the rest, even if it turned out that the Mercedes drivers were also safe. The Williams and Toro Rossos looked like being the most vulnerable teams among the midfield, and the fight to avoid an early elimination was between Pastor Maldonado and Sebastien Buemi. After a last-ditch effort from the Venezuelan, it was the Swiss driver who joined the regular Lotuses, Virgins and Hispanias in occupying the rear seven grid slots, though Buemi will in fact begin from 23^rd place thanks to his grid penalty picked up from ending Nick Heidfeld's race last time out at the Nurburgring.

Eliminated – Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Timo Glock (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin)

Q2

Vettel was once again the first major contender out of the traps, setting an early benchmark of 1'21.1 on the super-softs. Hamilton was the only man to eschew the softer rubber in favour of another run on softs, and was able to make it work – his time was just a hundredth of a second slower than that of Vettel, despite the super-softs' alleged eight tenths per lap advantage. Rosberg impressed as well, getting his Mercedes within a tenth of compatriot Vettel, whilst Webber beat his teammate by two-tenths to take the top spot of the timesheets. His reign was cut short by Button however, who was three tenths quicker, who in turn was soon beaten by three tenths by Alonso. As for the midfield, two places were up for grabs in Q3 behind the top eight. These went to the Force India of Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez for Sauber, both of whom beat their teammates Paul Di Resta and Kamui Kobayashi by healthy margins. The Renaults of Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld were simply not quick enough, while the Williams drivers Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello as well as Jaime Alguersauri in the other Toro Rosso weren't able to make the cut either.

Eliminated – Paul Di Resta (Force India), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Nick Heidfeld (Renault), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Pastor Maldonado (Williams)

Q3

As ever, Q3 was a session of two halves, with the only participants of the first half being the Red Bulls, McLarens and Ferraris. Alonso set the standard with a 1'20.4, but Hamilton bettered his former teammate's time by four tenths not long after. Button was a tenth shy of Alonso initially, with Massa a further tenth behind, while Vettel's first time slotted himself between his fellow champions Hamilton and Alonso. Surprisingly, the best Webber could manage was sixth, a full eight tenths slower than Hamilton, leaving the German Grand Prix winner in provisional pole at the end of the unofficial 'Q3a'. Everyone except Perez, who instead opted to save tyres, took to the track for 'Q3b', with the top six all seemingly in contention for honours. Alonso looked like snatching pole away from Hamilton, but a mistake in the last sector meant he failed to improve his time. Vettel then went two-tenths quicker than Hamilton, putting the onus on the Brit to reclaim pole position. However, like Alonso he failed to improve his time, and despite the best efforts of Button, Webber and Massa, nothing was to deny the German his 23^rd career pole position. Button and Massa did however trump Alonso to move into third and fourth places, though Webber could still do no better than sixth, ahead of Rosberg, Schumacher and Sutil.

Top Ten – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Jenson Button (McLaren), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Adrian Sutil (Force India), Sergio Perez (Sauber)

My Prediction

For all of Vettel's disappointing form at his home race last time out, I have a sneaking suspicion that Germany's finest will be back on ominously good form tomorrow:

1. Vettel, 2. Hamilton, 3. Alonso, 4. Button, 5. Massa, 6. Rosberg, 7. Perez, 8. Sutil, 9. Kobayashi, 10. Petrov

The Hungaroring is a notoriously difficult track on which to overtake, and the short length of the main straight will probably render DRS relatively impotent. As such, Hamilton will remain stuck behind Vettel for the duration in similar style to Barcelona, with Alonso picking up two places to complete the podium. Webber will be the victim of an optimistic lunge by a certain M. Schumacher at turn 1, allowing Rosberg into sixth and Perez into seventh ahead of Sutil courtesy of some more expert tyre management from the Mexican; Kobayashi and Petrov will round out the points.

The Hungarian Grand Prix however isn't completely incapable of a surprise result – Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill (very nearly at the wheel of an Arrows in 1997), Button and Kovalainen rank among some of the more unexpected winners of the race over the last 25 years – so anything can still happen. Make sure you check back here tomorrow to read about everything that does.

German Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report

Lewis Hamilton took his second win of the season at the Nurburgring circuit after coming out on top of a tight three-way battle between himself, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. The victory came as a result of a combination of an excellent drive from the Brit and an expertly-timed final pit-stop from his McLaren team. Sebastian Vettel finished off the podium for the first time this year on home turf after a disappointing outing.

It was Webber who held all the aces in qualifying, and after securing pole position by just a few hundredths of a second from Hamilton, he appeared to be on course to replicate his victory of two years ago at a circuit at which he has excelled in years gone by. Vettel found himself languishing in third on the grid after Hamilton's barnstorming lap, ahead of the Ferrari pair of Alonso and Felipe Massa and his compatriot Nico Rosberg.

As the race got underway, it was Hamilton who made the best start. He dived up the inside of Webber at the first corner to lead the race, with Alonso adopting a similar approach to slot his scarlet car ahead of Vettel to take third. Rosberg had the edge on Massa and leapt ahead of the Brazilian into fifth, whilst Jenson Button made a poor getaway from seventh on the grid; he ended up an unhappy tenth place by the end of the first lap after he was passed by the fast-starting Michael Schumacher, quickly becoming stuck behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov after the German found his way past the Russian.

On the second lap, Alonso made an error at turn two which allowed Vettel to re-take his starting position, but it soon became apparent that the championship leader lacked the pace of Hamilton and Webber ahead. As the leading pair slowly crept away, Alonso became an irksome sight in Vettel's mirrors in the DRS zone after the system was enabled. As it was, the Spaniard was unable to make the pass into the chicane at the end of the DRS zone, but managed to get a strong slipstream in the run down to the first corner on lap 8 – the Ferrari driver darted to the inside, braked as late as he dared and the deal was done.

Vettel's situation was compounded by a spin at turn 9 on the same lap, costing him considerable ground to the top three and almost costing him positions to Rosberg and Massa duelling behind. Meanwhile, Webber was catching up Hamilton, and on lap 12 the Red Bull driver took advantage of a minor error at the mistake from his rival which allowed him to sneak into the lead at the final corner. Hamilton however was able to get a supreme exit from that corner, allowing him to re-take the lead into the first corner.

This battle allowed Alonso to draw right on to the tail of Webber, creating a three-way tussle as the first round of pit-stops approached. Webber was first to change his tyres on lap 14, as well as Rosberg who had fallen behind a hard-charging Massa. Two laps later, Hamilton and Alonso both did likewise, but the pair fell just behind Webber who was himself in the process of trying to pass the yet-to-stop Massa. When the Brazilian made his stop at the end of lap 17, Webber crossed the line to lead his first lap of the season.

At first, it looked as if Webber would be able to take a comfortable win as he began to ease away from Hamilton and Alonso behind. However, in doing so he rapidly sapped the life out of his soft compound tyres, allowing the two former champions to close the gap once again. Hamilton was able to close the gap to the Red Bull and wasted little time in retaking the lead of the race with a clever pass at turn 3 just before the second round of pit-stops.

Of the three leaders, Hamilton's pit-stop fell in the middle of his competitors on lap 31, with Webber coming in one lap earlier and Alonso one lap later. A lightning stop from the Ferrari mechanics allowed Alonso to rejoin the track in first, but his former McLaren teammate was in no mood to hold station in second. Hamilton took full advantage of his warmer tyres with a breathtaking move around the outside of Alonso at turn 3, and began to edge away from his arch-rival. Webber conversely seemed incapable of taking the fight to either of the two men ahead.

By the time of the third pit-stops, Hamilton's lead was at one-and-a-half seconds having peaked at around double that, with Webber around three seconds further down the road in third. With the drivers obliged to run the allegedly second-a-lap slower medium tyre, it seemed the logical move to try and do as little time as possible on it in order to drop the least possible time. The McLaren team defied this logic by pitting Hamilton with nine laps remaining, but it transpired to be the right move as Alonso pitted two laps later and failed to take back the lead.

At that point, Hamilton's sixteenth career victory was all but assured, and seven laps later he crossed the chequered flag to take 25 well-deserved points. Alonso held on to second place from Webber, whose even later final pit-stop also failed to pay dividends, marking the fifth consecutive occasion that the Australian has failed to convert a pole position into a win. The second half of the race saw an equally exciting battle develop for fourth place between Vettel and Massa.

The Ferrari number two passed the ailing Vettel earlier in the race, but in the latter stages had his mirrors full of Red Bull RB7. The pair finally pitted with just one lap to go, but a slightly botched pit-stop from the Ferrari mechanics allowed Vettel to snatch fourth place away from Massa, salvaging twelve points from a disappointing afternoon on home soil. On the contrary, Adrian Sutil put in his finest performance of the year at his home race to bag sixth for Force India. His two-stop strategy was the key in finishing ahead of his Mercedes-driving countrymen Rosberg and Schumacher.

Kamui Kobayashi made an excellent recovery at the wheel of the Sauber from a lowly seventeenth on the grid to score two points in ninth place, ahead of Vitaly Petrov who took the final point home for Renault. Eleventh position was all Sergio Perez could manage in the other Sauber after an extremely early first pit-stop was necessitated by an off-road excursion, with twelfth befalling Jaime Alguersauri after a fairly uneventful afternoon.

It was somewhat more eventful for his Toro Rosso teammate Sebastien Buemi though – he started from the back of the grid after being excluded from qualifying because of a fuel irregularity, and picked up a puncture after contact with Nick Heidfeld in the DRS zone early in the race. The veteran German looked to the right to pass the young Swiss as they approached the chicane, but was forced off of the road onto a large hump in the grass which decimated the front-end of the Renault, ending Heidfeld's race prematurely.

Buemi thus could manage no better than fifteenth, some way behind Pastor Maldonado's Williams in fourteenth and Paul Di Resta's Force India in thirteenth, who in turn had his race disrupted by contact with Heidfeld in the opening couple of corners of the race. Next was Heikki Kovalainen in sixteenth for Lotus, who finished ahead of Virgin pairing Timo Glock and Jerome D'Ambrosio, Hispania's Daniel Ricciardo, and finally Karun Chandhok, who was substituting regular driver Jarno Trulli in the second Lotus for one weekend only. Rubens Barrichello and Vitantonio Liuzzi both succumbed to mechanical issues, as did Button who frustratingly has failed to finish twice in a row through absolutely no fault of his own.

For all of his troubles on the race track today, Vettel still has a gigantic lead in the championship of 77 points from Webber, with Hamilton another five behind him after taking back third place from Alonso. This means that if such a situation as what has happened today was replicated over the course of the remaining nine rounds, the German would still take the championship comfortably. Clearly, the destiny of the championship is therefore out of the hands of Vettel's pursuers; all they can do is put in more blistering performances that we've seen this year at Canada, Silverstone and now at the Nurburgring, and hope.

German Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report

Mark Webber took his second straight pole with a superb performance during the qualifying session for the German Grand Prix. The Australian lapped the Nurburgring circuit at a storming pace to fend off stiff opposition from his surprise closest challenger, Lewis Hamilton, by less than a tenth of a second. Sebastian Vettel will start third, his lowest grid slot of the season so far, at his home race.

Q1

Home drivers Nick Heidfeld and Michael Schumacher briefly led the timesheets at the start of the session, as did Jaime Alguersauri who demonstrated the performance gulf between the soft and medium tyres by going fastest on a 1'34.2 using the former. Using the mediums, Webber quickly deprived the young Spaniard of this glory with a 1'34.1, but Hamilton's over-a-second-quicker lap set using the same rubber suggested that he could well be in contention for pole position despite his earlier misgivings. Not even twenty-two time polesitter Vettel could answer that particular effort to begin with, and it remained the fastest time until Fernando Alonso posted a time less than a tenth quicker. Subsequent times from both the Red Bull boys were insufficient to topple that, but once the midfield runners began to resort to the soft tyres, a slew of new faces appeared in the top 10. Sergio Perez went sixth for Sauber, Vitaly Petrov fifth for Renault and Pastor Maldonado fourth for Williams, and Heidfeld re-took the first place he had fleetingly enjoyed fifteen minutes on a 1'32.5. Such was the extent by which the times were tumbling, even Schumacher and Felipe Massa felt the urge to post times on soft rubber to safeguard their places, slotting either side of Heidfeld with a 1'32.6 and a 1'32.1 respectively. One midfield runner was always going to be caught out when the music stopped, and on this occasion it was the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi who joined the established bottom six runners, which features Indian driver Karun Chandhok amongst its ranks for this weekend only, who steps in at Team Lotus in place of Jarno Trulli.

Eliminated – Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Timo Glock (Virgin), Karun Chandhok (Lotus), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania)

Q2

The Ferrari duo of Massa and Alonso were the first major contenders out of the pits, and with both using soft tyres, it was the British Grand Prix winner who initially led the way on a 1'31.2, an effort four tenths faster than Webber's first crack of the Q2 whip. Hamilton spoilt the Scuderia party however by pipping his former teammate by two tenths, which was enough to keep him atop the standings for the remainder of the session. Behind, an almighty scrap between the midfield runners broke out in the final minutes, and with the McLarens, Ferraris and Red Bulls apparently safe, as well as both Mercedes boys after a pair of last-ditch efforts from Nico Rosberg and Schumacher, nine drivers were left to duke it out for two more slots in Q3. The lucky recipients of these were Petrov and another member of F1's swollen German contingent, Adrian Sutil, whose Force India appeared to suit the Nurburgring circuit well. Their respective teammates Heidfeld and Paul Di Resta therefore both missed the cut, as did Perez in the sole remaining Sauber along with both Williams and Toro Rosso drivers.

Eliminated – Nick Heidfeld (Renault), Paul Di Resta (Force India), Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso)

Q3

As so often is the case, Q3 was a tale of two halves, with all of the pole contenders making two attempts at glory, and the rest saving a set of tyres by only making one. Alonso was the first man in the first group, setting a 1'30.9, but Hamilton was able to go two tenths faster at the wheel of his seemingly rejuvenated McLaren. Massa went a tenth slower than Alonso in the sister Ferrari, though Button was even further off the pace of his teammate with a 1'31.3. Webber finally revealed the true potential of the Red Bull by setting an incredible 1'30.3 – a time with which Vettel couldn't quite get on terms with a time a tenth slower. For all of Ferrari's sudden improvement in pace, Alonso still couldn't get between the blue cars on his second attempt, but even with improvements from both Webber and Vettel, Hamilton was somehow able to sneak the McLaren onto the front row with a blistering final time of 1'30.1, just fractions slower than Webber. Vettel thus qualified off the front row for the first time in 2011 in third, while Ferrari had to be content with fourth and fifth places for Alonso and Massa, ahead of Rosberg, who set only one lap, a somewhat crestfallen Button who abandoned his second lap after complaining of a lack of grip, Sutil, Petrov, and Schumacher who equalled his worst-ever qualifying performance with tenth place at a track where he has taken five victories in the past.

Top Ten – Mark Webber (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Jenson Button (McLaren), Adrian Sutil (Force India), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)

My Prediction

Bearing in mind Webber's impeccable track record at the Nurburgring and Hamilton-shaped buffer between himself and Vettel, I shall be looking no further than the pole-sitting Aussie as to the identity of tomorrow's victor, assuming it remains dry:

1. Webber, 2. Vettel, 3. Hamilton, 4. Alonso, 5. Massa, 6. Button, 7. Rosberg, 8. Heidfeld, 9. Sutil, 10. Di Resta

Unfortunately, I can't quite envisage the speed of Hamilton's McLaren being quite strong enough to ward off a challenge from Vettel, but he should have enough in hand to hold off Alonso. Button won't be able to trouble Massa, but should be able to take sixth place away from Rosberg. Heidfeld will gain positions thanks to another collision between Petrov and Schumacher, as well as his Renault being a tad faster than the Force India. For all that however, a pair of sensible drives from Sutil and Di Resta will ensure the Indian squad takes home a well-deserved three points.

As Silverstone showed however, predicting the outcome of a new-look 2011 F1 race is becoming an increasingly difficult task: anything can and probably will happen, especially if the weather conditions take a turn for the worse. You can guarantee one thing though – that there'll be a comprehensive report of everything that went on right here this time tomorrow. Don't miss it.

Introducing: Daniel Ricciardo

In the last two years, arguably the most promising up-and-coming talent in the lower formulae has been young Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who began his first Formula One race with the Hispania team at last weekend's British Grand Prix. Though his performance may have appeared lacklustre on paper, Ricciardo's backing from Red Bull combined with his obvious abundance of talent mean that it's more than possible that the world has just witnessed the beginning of an F1 career that has every possibility of being as successful as, if not more so than, those of fellow Australians Jack Brabham, Alan Jones and Mark Webber.

After impressing in the Formula BMW Asia series in 2006, Ricciardo secured a drive for 2007 in the Italian Formula Renault series, where a near-constant streak of points-scoring finishes saw him finish sixth in the points, crushing his two teammates and earning himself a place with the Red Bull Junior Team for 2008. Launching a twin-assault on both the West European and the Eurocup Formula Renault series, Ricciardo won the former and came a close second in the latter to current Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas, racking up a total of fourteen wins along the way and marking himself out as a potential star of the future. Red Bull have been criticised for their 'scattergun' approach to backing young hopefuls, but there's no denying that it certainly ensures no potential world-beaters slip through the net.

Having conquered the Formula Renault scene, Formula Three was always the next logical step for Ricciardo, and Red Bull placed him in the 2009 British championship with the crack Carlin team that took fellow Red Bull junior Jaime Alguersauri to the title the previous year. Ricciardo began the year as he meant to go on by winning the opening pair of races at Oulton Park, and fended off stiff opposition from the Hitech Racing drivers Walter Grubmuller and Renger Van Der Zande to win the championship convincingly by an impressive 87 points.

The World Series by Renault championship was the place Red Bull chose to enter Ricciardo the following year, alongside another of their drivers, Brendon Hartley, at the Tech 1 team. Whilst Hartley struggled for results before being unceremoniously dumped by the energy-drink giant mid-way through the season, Ricciardo immediately established himself as a title contender with two pole positions in the first two races. Ultimately, he fell just two points short of the title in the final reckoning, with the vastly more experienced Mikhail Aleshin taking the crown instead, but the Australian took one more win than his Russian rival over the course of the season, including a faultless lights-to-flag victory around the streets of Monaco.

Having been the reserve driver for both of the Red Bull-owned F1 teams during 2010, 2011 has seen Ricciardo participate in numerous Friday practice sessions for Scuderia Toro Rosso, with the unashamed goal of spurring on the team's race drivers Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari to raise their games. It seemed likely that Ricciardo would be making his F1 debut at some point this season at the expense of one of the duo, but Alguersauri's recent upturn in form meant that the Spaniard was granted a stay of execution. This led to Red Bull striking a deal with Hispania for Ricciardo to replace Narain Karthikeyan, beginning at Silverstone.

This meant nearly everybody was a winner: Ricciardo would gain valuable race experience with next-to-no pressure on his shoulders, Buemi and Alguersauri would both be given extra time to prove themselves worthy of remaining at Toro Rosso, Red Bull would buy themselves extra time to evaluate all three, and Hispania presumably would gain a sizeable bag of money from Austria's foremost peddler of high-energy beverages along with a highly talented driver to boot. The only loser would be Karthikeyan, who, with the exception of his home race in India, would have no choice to but to sit out the remainder of the year.

Of course, Ricciardo's teammate at Hispania, Vitantonio Liuzzi, was a Red Bull junior himself until being replaced at Toro Rosso by Sebastien Bourdais at the start of 2008, giving Red Bull the additional benefit of being able to measure their latest protégé against a known quantity. Ricciardo outpaced the Italian in all three practice sessions at Silverstone, but his lack of experience meant he had trouble warming up the tyres quickly enough when it came to qualifying. Still, only half-a-second slower Liuzzi on his very first attempt was nothing to be sniffed at. His caution on the damp track surface as well as being mired in blue flags (something he hasn't been used to in the lower classes) meant he failed to keep up with Liuzzi and Jerome D'Ambrosio ahead, but merely finishing the race at all meant it was a job well done for Ricciardo on his first day at the office.

As he racks up racing experience, these minor niggles should resolve themselves. Ricciardo proved during practice that it's certainly not speed that's lacking, and bearing that in mind Ricciardo should be able to outperform Liuzzi in the races as well towards the end of the season. Provided he manages that, a seat at Toro Rosso in 2012 seems all but a certainty for Ricciardo – there has even been talk of him replacing his compatriot Webber at the end of this season should he decide to hang up his helmet, but that appears to be but an extremely minor possibility for now.

Presuming he gets the drive at Toro Rosso in 2012, Ricciardo should theoretically be able to outperform either Buemi or Alguersauri, depending on which of them is forced to move aside. This would effectively enable to him to 'jump the queue' of Red Bull juniors, and with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner's apparent disinterest in the services of Lewis Hamilton suggesting it will be another of their in-house young guns who will join Sebastian Vettel in 2013, Ricciardo has every chance of landing himself the best seat in the house when that time comes.

It's far too early to say whether Ricciardo can be as successful as Vettel, who himself already is staking a claim to being another of the sport's all-time greats, but judging from his performances thus far, the 22-year old seems to have a similar amount of potential as the new wunderkind did four years ago when he emerged on the F1 stage. Combine that potential with his gregarious nature, easy-going charm and his ever-present smile, and Red Bull surely has an instant hit with the fans on their books, as well as somebody who will be able to extract the maximum from any machinery at his disposal. As long as Red Bull can maintain the kind of form they currently display, there's no doubt in my mind that Ricciardo has everything that it takes to become world champion.

British Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report

Fernando Alonso took his first win of the season thanks to a sensational performance during an action-packed British Grand Prix at Silverstone. After Sebastian Vettel lost the lead because of a fumbled pit-stop, the Ferrari number one never looked back as he romped to the chequered flag. Vettel held on to second from teammate Mark Webber, with Lewis Hamilton taking a strong fourth place in front of his adoring home fans after a difficult qualifying session.

During a rain-affected qualifying session, Webber took his second pole position of the season ahead of Vettel and the Ferrari duo of Alonso and Felipe Massa. The McLarens struggled for pace as Jenson Button and Hamilton lined up in fifth and tenth places respectively, the latter being caught out by a late shower having set his only time on worn tyres. There were however three British drivers in the top ten as Paul Di Resta managed a career-best sixth place on the grid, ahead of Pastor Maldonado and Kamui Kobayashi.

The drivers all opted to begin the race on intermediate tyres as the area near the newly-positioned start was dry, whilst the other end of the track was still wet. At the field got underway, Vettel seized the initiative with a faultless start and passed Webber, who was able to keep hold of second place from Alonso. Button managed to relieve Massa of fourth position, whilst Hamilton also made several positions from his starting position, ending the first lap in sixth place after overtaking Di Resta as the pack headed into Stowe corner for the first time. The following lap, the charging Briton was able to dispense with his teammate into Brooklands after he fell back behind Massa a couple of corners earlier at The Loop.

With the McLaren performing well in the damp conditions, Hamilton quickly cruised up to the back of Massa's Ferrari, but was forced to wait until the first round of pit-stops to make his way past the Brazilian after two adventures into the tarmac run-off area at Brooklands corner. With the track drying up all the time, Button was the first of the top six cars to take the gamble of slick tyres on lap 11; Webber, Alonso and Hamilton did so the following lap, and finally race-leader Vettel and Massa on lap 13. With the race officially declared wet, the drivers were not obliged to use the hard compound tyre, and as such everybody chose soft rubber for the remainder of the race.

Hamilton successfully 'undercut' Massa to take fourth position during the stops, and wasted no time in catching up to the other Ferrari of Alonso. The Spaniard was unable to keep his former teammate at bay as he went for a daring move up the inside of Copse, but Hamilton never quite looked like truly getting away from the man from whom he'd just taken the final podium place. Alonso persevered and was able to take third back from the McLaren driver at Brooklands on lap 22, and proceeded to set a blistering pace until his second pit-stop of the race, which came on lap 27.

This coincided with Vettel's second visit to the pits, but the stop was severely hindered by a problem with the rear jack which allowed Alonso to scoot past into the lead. The reigning champion lost a further position to Hamilton who had stopped three laps earlier, but Hamilton's pace was just not sufficient to keep up with Alonso, who began to stretch his new lead by 1.2 seconds per lap. This meant Vettel was almost immediately on the tail of Hamilton, but he decided to err on the side of caution and wait until the final round of pit-stops to take second place back from the home hero.

Indeed, Vettel also made use of the fashionable undercutting tactic on lap 36 to move back into second place, ahead of Hamilton who stopped one lap later. There was more woe for McLaren as Button pitted from fifth on lap 39 (having dispatched Massa with an excellent move round the outside of Stowe), only for his pit-crew to fail to properly secure his front-right tyre as he left his pit-box. Button pulled over at the end of the pit-lane as he saw that the wheel was clearly in danger of going AWOL, and that was the end of his race.
As Alonso continued to stretch his lead to over fifteen seconds ahead of Vettel, another piece of misfortune for McLaren had the effect of creating two thrilling battles in the closing stages of the race. That misfortune came in the form of the news that Hamilton would be forced to slow down in order to have sufficient fuel to finish the race. This meant Webber had no trouble in passing Hamilton for third, and with the Brit having to drastically curtail his pace, fifth-placed Massa began to close at a rate of over a second a lap. As the Brazilian caught his former championship rival, Webber also caught up to his teammate Vettel, who appeared to be struggling with tyre wear.

Team principal Christian Horner would've had Webber hold station, but the Australian was in no mood to accept team orders as he hounded Vettel for the last five or so laps, just missing out on second position after an excellent wheel-to-wheel battle. Massa also came within a whisker of taking fourth place away from Hamilton; the pair crossed the line side-by-side after some minor contact on the penultimate corner of the race, but ultimately Hamilton did just enough to hold on.

These duels only played into the hands of Alonso, who strolled to a comfortable 27^th career victory, placing him level with triple-champion Jackie Stewart in the all-time standings. Vettel continued his lengthy run of top-two finishes ahead of Webber, whose relationship with his Red Bull team may have just taken a fresh turn for the worse, Hamilton and Massa. Nico Rosberg made use of a two-stop strategy to finish in sixth place for Mercedes ahead of Sergio Perez who took his best-ever finish for Sauber in seventh. Nick Heidfeld did a solid job to take eighth place, ahead of countryman Michael Schumacher who endured an eventful afternoon.

First, the former champion made a great start from thirteenth on the grid to reach ninth by the end of the first lap, but then suffered a collision with Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber at Brooklands corner which meant, not for the first time this season, he was forced to pit for a new nose, making an early change to slick tyres simultaneously. He earned a ten-second stop/go penalty for his troubles, but set a strong pace thereafter and did well to recover to ninth, ahead of Jaime Alguersauri who also made up several positions for Toro Rosso en route to tenth place and the final point.

Force India's three-stop strategy for Adrian Sutil failed to pay dividends as he fell behind several of his rivals into eleventh place, ahead of Vitaly Petrov in the second Renault. After a promising grid slot of seventh, Pastor Maldonado simply didn't have point-scoring pace as he ended up behind Williams teammate Rubens Barrichello into fourteenth. He fared marginally better than fellow rookie Di Resta however, whose equally strong position was squandered by a motley combination of a slow pit-stop and contact with Sebastien Buemi that gave the Toro Rosso driver a puncture that put him out of the race. The Scot ended up a dejected fifteenth.

Timo Glock and Jerome D'Ambrosio for Virgin were next ahead of the Hispania drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Daniel Ricciardo, who saw the chequered flag on his F1 race debut in place of Narain Karthikeyan as a result of the a deal between the Hispania team and Red Bull, who sponsors the newcomer.  Both Lotus drivers bowed out early on with mechanical troubles, whilst Kobayashi retired with an oil leak soon after his collision with Schumacher.
Vettel still enjoys a huge lead in the drivers' standings of 80 points from Webber, with Alonso having moved past both McLarens into third place just twelve behind the second of the Red Bull drivers after a terrific win. The F1 circus visits the Nurburgring circuit in Germany next, where Vettel's rivals will doubtless be hoping to deny the championship leader a maiden home triumph. With the Ferrari team ostensibly back on form, it looks as if Alonso could be the best placed of them to manage it. 

British Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report

Mark Webber took advantage of the confusion caused by changeable conditions and a hastily-imposed restriction on 'blown' diffusers to bag his second pole position of the year at the Silverstone Circuit. He leads an all-Red Bull front row as his teammate Sebastian Vettel lines up in second place after a time a few tenths of a second slower, while the two Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa form the second row after a competitive showing.

Q1

With the sky looking rather overcast, just about everybody took the track on dry tyres before any rain materialised. Home hero Lewis Hamilton was one of the first to set a time, which was a 1'35.4 using the hard compound tyres. The two Ferraris of Alonso and Massa then proceeded to smash that time by the best part of two seconds, with even Vettel apparently unable to answer the sudden upsurge in the pace of the Prancing Horse after an initial effort a second slower. The championship leader didn't take long to amend the situation however, taking the top spot away from Alonso with a time a tenth quicker than the Spaniard, who incidentally took an unscheduled trip into the gravel at Luffield corner amidst his response. After equipping soft tyres, the Williams pairing of Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado both enjoyed brief spells as fastest driver, as did Massa on the hard tyres, but when the dust finally settled, it was Webber who had set the quickest time, a 1'32.7. Further down the order, both Toro Rosso drivers were inexplicably slow, leading to both of them being eliminated come the end of the session. On the other hand, Heikki Kovalainen was able to sneak his Lotus into Q2, but his teammate Jarno Trulli joined the Virgin and Hispania drivers in sitting out the rest of the afternoon, including highly-rated Australian debutant Daniel Ricciardo who has been placed at Hispania by sponsor Red Bull in place of Narain Karthikeyan for evaluation purposes – more about him in next week's post.

Eliminated – Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Timo Glock (Virgin), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania)

Q2

In between Q1 and Q2, a light shower erupted, but by the time the cars began to take to the track, it had already begun to dry. This presented a dilemma to the teams as to whether or not to send their drivers out with intermediate tyres. One team which decided to do exactly that was Mercedes, but it turned out to be the wrong choice as Nico Rosberg aborted his first flying lap and Michael Schumacher's lap was five seconds off the pace. Once again, Williams looked impressive as both its drivers set the fastest times early in the session, but as the track slowly began to dry out, Sergio Perez, Vitaly Petrov, Kamui Kobayashi and Adrian Sutil all did likewise until Alonso restored normality with a 1'31.7. Vettel could only muster a comparatively tardy 1'32.4, which seemed even more so when Webber took first place again with a time fractionally faster than Alonso's. Massa then went a tenth quicker than that just as the rain began to fall again, effectively freezing the order. This meant that Nick Heidfeld along with Barrichello, Perez, Petrov and Sutil were all left in the cold when the music stopped, despite having all led the way earlier in the session, whilst Schumacher simply couldn't pull the required lap time out of the bag. Unsuprisingly, Kovalainen's Lotus also lacked the requisite speed to make Q3.

Eliminated – Adrian Sutil (Force India), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Nick Heidfeld (Renault), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus)

Q3

With the track dry enough for slicks once more, Webber was the first to take to the track, setting a 1'30.4, a time of which Vettel fell less than a tenth short on his initial run. Hamilton's first run was two seconds off the pace after his McLaren team bizarrely opted to give him a worn set of slicks, his plight underlined by Alonso's time registering just a tenth slower than the Red Bull duo. Rosberg was also decidedly off the pace with a time only marginally better than that of Hamilton. Massa consolidated Ferrari's position by beating Button to fourth place by a margin of seven-tenths, with Paul Di Resta, Maldonado and Kobayashi all doing a commendable job to set the sixth, seventh and eighth fastest times respectively. Unfortunately for the Mercedes-powered cars (with the exception of Di Resta), the rain made another return, all but sealing Webber's pole position and the existing top ten order, even if Rosberg did try and improve his time regardless. He looked on course to gain several positions before finally abandoning the lap with several corners to go, leaving himself ninth and Hamilton a dejected tenth.

Top Ten – Mark Webber (Red Bull), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jenson Button (McLaren), Paul Di Resta (Force India), Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

My Prediction

With rain looking likely to play at least a small part in Sunday's events, I'm going to predict something of an upset in the form of an overdue first win for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso:-

1. Alonso, 2. Webber, 3. Massa, 4. Button, 5. Kobayashi, 6. Hamilton, 7. Schumacher, 8. Di Resta, 9. Maldonado, 10. Perez

Admittedly, the absence of a certain German Red Bull driver from my prediction may smack of a liberal dose of optimism, but Canada showed that perhaps wet races do represent a minor weakness of the otherwise indefatigable reigning champion – a trip to some soggy gravel or an unaccommodating Armco barrier thus can't be ruled out. Conversely, Ferrari admitted that at the lottery that was Canada, 'their numbers didn't come up' in spite of a similarly strong starting position, so the law of averages dictates that luck should be more on the side of the Scuderia this time around, hence my forecasting Massa's maiden podium of the season. The McLarens will continue to suffer from a lack of speed, though this won't prevent a reasonable damage-limitation effort from Hamilton, with Kobayashi and Schumacher putting their wet-weather talents that were so heroically displayed at Canada to use once more to take home another hatful of points each. Sadly this will cost Di Resta and Maldonado a couple of places, but both will nonetheless score after a pair of solid drives, whilst Perez will make it three points-scoring rookies at Sutil's expense.

Of course, the rain means anything could happen if Canada is anything to go by, so make sure you come back here in twenty-four hours for a full rundown of events on what promises to be a thrilling British Grand Prix.

Under New Management - Part II: Red Bull & Force India

Not only have the manufacturer Formula One teams of Renault and Mercedes undergone various incarnations throughout their histories; in addition, the corporate-backed Red Bull and Force India teams have raced under several different guises in the past – allow me to take you through them all.

Red Bull (aka Stewart, Jaguar)

The current dominant force of today's F1 grid began life as the Stewart team, named after its founder, three-time champion Jackie Stewart. With the help of son Paul, who already ran a highly successful outfit in British Formula Three, Stewart's eponymous cars took to the grid in 1997 with backing from Ford, HSBC and the Malaysian tourism board. After three years of mixed fortune at Jordan, Rubens Barrichello opted to throw in his lot with the fledgling team in its inaugural season, with Jan Magnussen being recruited as the Brazilian's teammate thanks to his eye-catching performances in British F3 in 1994 that led Stewart to declare the Dane as the most exciting talent he'd seen since Ayrton Senna. The team disappointed initially with just one podium finish, courtesy of Barrichello in appalling conditions around the streets of Monaco in '97, during its first two seasons, in which time Magnussen had been replaced by Jos Verstappen after failing to live up to Stewart's high expectations. With the acquisition of acclaimed designer Gary Anderson from Jordan however, things took a major turn for the better in 1999 as Barrichello became a regular fixture on the podium. New teammate Johnny Herbert was even able to claim an unlikely win in a race of attrition at the Nurburgring, contributing to a strong fourth place in the constructors' standings. 

At the turn of the millennium, Ford took the decision to take over the team from the Stewarts and rename it after their Jaguar car brand, adorning the cars in British Racing Green in the process. Eddie Irvine, having lost the championship by a whisker to Mika Hakkinen in '99, did a straight swap with Ferrari-bound Barrichello to partner Herbert at what had very much become F1's English national effort. For all the hype though, unreliability combined with gross mismanagement from Ford's directors resulted in the team quickly becoming the disappointment of the grid, beating only financial minnows Minardi and Prost in 2000. Things failed to improve much in the following years, despite two podiums for Irvine, who bowed out of the sport at the end of 2002. His replacement was young Australian Mark Webber, who had achieved stardom in his very first F1 race with an excellent fifth place on home turf at Melbourne at the wheel of the Minardi, the least-fancied car of the grid. Webber quickly marked himself out as a qualifying specialist, but generally seemed to have trouble converting his impressive grid positions into points. This distinct lack of results and the apparent never-ending financial woes of Ford led to the US car giant putting its team up for sale in 2004. The buyer was a certain Austrian beverage magnate by the name of Dietrich Mateschitz, who, with the help of Messrs Horner and Newey, set about turning the struggling team into a world-beater.

Force India (aka Jordan, Midland, Spyker)

Force India's story dates back to 1991, when Irish businessman Eddie Jordan joined the F1 grid after achieving a great deal of success in Formula 3000. Jordan was able to put together quite a portfolio of sponsors with which to tackle the challenge, chief among them being Pepsi, whose 7UP brand led to Anderson's maiden F1 design being painted in an attractive green livery. Veteran Italian Andrea de Cesaris was signed, along with young Belgian Bertrand Gachot. Thanks to semi-regular points-scoring finishes throughout the season, the Irish squad took fifth in the constructors' championship out of 18 teams on a sparkling debut season. After the withdrawal of Pepsi and the team's reliable Ford engines however, success became harder to come by over the next few years, though the team built up something of a reputation for giving promising newcomers a try. When Gachot found himself imprisoned after assaulting a London taxi driver in 1991, one Michael Schumacher was drafted in as his replacement for Spa. The German immediately stunned, taking seventh on the grid on a track that'd he never before raced on. Sadly, his race was curtailed by clutch failure, though it is often forgotten that De Cesaris would have probably won the race but for mechanical maladies of his own. The rival Benetton team wasted no time in pinching Schumacher in time for the next round, but Jordan were also responsible for the debuts of future race-winners Barrichello, Irvine and Ralf Schumacher during the decade, acquiring a distinctive yellow livery courtesy of cigarette brand Benson & Hedges along the way. The team didn't win a race itself until 1998, where in treacherous conditions at Spa, Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher took a famous one-two. This breakthrough was followed up by a pair of wins for German Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 1999, whose evident talent was unlocked by Jordan after two troubled seasons at Williams. As per Stewart/Jaguar however, 1999 proved to be Jordan's zenith as the team began a steady decline towards the rear of the grid. Initially, speed didn't appear to be lacking, but reliability certainly was, costing Jordan its position as 'best of the rest' behind Ferrari and McLaren. After parting ways with Frentzen on bitter terms in mid-2001 and losing its works Honda engine deal at the end of 2002, Jordan took one final, fortuitous win with Giancarlo Fisichella at a sodden Interlagos in 2003. 

By 2005, Jordan had joined Minardi as an established rear-of-the-grid runner, and Eddie Jordan finally sold out to Russian billionaire Alex Shnaider who re-christened the team Midland F1 for 2006. The team remained mired at the back despite a raft of fresh sponsors, and Shnaider sold the team to the small Dutch sportscar firm Spyker later that year. Once again a new owner had little impact on the team's performance, even if their driver Markus Winkelhock did lead the 2007 European Grand Prix extremely briefly after an inspired tyre choice in monsoon-like conditions. It was then announced that the team would be purchased by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, who gave the team its third name in as many years in 2008 – Force India.

Not be forgotten either are Scuderia Toro Rosso and Sauber who have also experienced changes in ownership – the former ran as the perennial Italian backmarker Minardi until its sale by owner Paul Stoddart in 2006 to Red Bull, while the latter have raced under the Sauber banner since their 1993 debut, including 2006-9, when the team was owned by well-known German car manufacturer BMW and thus named 'BMW Sauber'.

Next Sunday is the British Grand Prix, which will hopefully be somewhat more enthralling than the bore-fest was last week's race. Check back here on Saturday and Sunday for all the details of the qualifying and the race.