Belgian Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report

Sebastian Vettel placed one hand firmly on this year's championship crown after taking a seventh win of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix. Despite struggling with tyre wear early in the race, the Red Bull driver settled into a rhythm during the latter half that put him out of reach of any of his rivals. Mark Webber in the second Red Bull was able to recover from a tardy start to complete a one-two for the Austrian team, whilst Jenson Button charged through the pack having qualified a lowly thirteenth on the grid to round out the podium.

Vettel was able to overcome the changing conditions during qualifying on Saturday to take yet another pole position, with Lewis Hamilton only able to come within half a second of the German in the final reckoning. Webber lined up in third place, ahead of the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and a surprisingly quick Jaime Alguersauri for Toro Rosso. Like Button, Fernando Alonso had a difficult afternoon in the sister Ferrari, only managing eighth position, whilst Michael Schumacher also suffered as one of his wheels simply fell off the Mercedes during Q1. The six-time Belgian GP winner was thus relegated to the very back of the grid.

Although qualifying was affected by rain, a totally dry race meant that all top ten runners would begin on the soft compound tyres on which they set their Q3 lap times. Conversely, Button and Schumacher were both able to begin the race on the harder medium compound, a factor that proved instrumental in their gaining of places as the afternoon unfolded. As the lights went out, Vettel's getaway was good enough to see him maintain the lead. Meanwhile, Rosberg hooked up his start perfectly, and after audaciously slithering up the inside of Hamilton, a slow-starting Webber and Massa at La Source, found himself second behind compatriot Vettel.

Webber's sluggish start dropped him down to eighth at the end of the first lap, though he was helped by a collision caused by a somewhat over-exuberant Bruno Senna. In his first F1 race for nine months, he careered his Renault into the sidepod of the hapless Alguersauri, putting the Spaniard immediately out after having achieved his best ever grid position the previous day. Senna was able to continue, but barely a hundred metres later his front wing would break, fly underneath the car and damage the front wing of Button who was running behind. The Brit's car was further damaged by some contact from the rear courtesy of Paul Di Resta, who in turn was harpooned by an over-ambitious lunge from Timo Glock. All of this meant that Button would be obliged to make an early first pit-stop in order to repair the damage.

Senna and Glock were both slapped with drive-through penalties for causing their respective incidents, whilst the Ferraris both weaved their way through the carnage to sit fourth and fifth behind Vettel, Rosberg and Hamilton after the first corner. As the pack headed up through Eau Rouge and down the long Kemmel Straight for the first time, Rosberg took full advantage of his powerful Mercedes powerplant to blast past Vettel and take the lead. Just behind, Hamilton's high-downforce setting also left him vulnerable on the approach to Les Combes, allowing Massa to take third on the first lap and the other Ferrari of Alonso at the same place on lap later.

By the end of the second lap, the order was Rosberg from Vettel, Massa, Alonso, Hamilton and two men who had taken advantage of the first corner chaos to sit in sixth and seventh places ahead of Webber – Sebastien Buemi and Sergio Perez. Sadly for the pair of them though, contact was made which cost the former his rear wing and the latter his front wing. Buemi was forced to retire, ending an extremely brief race for the Toro Rosso team, whilst Perez was forced to pit for a new nose before having his race further disrupted by a penalty awarded for his part in the collision. Yet more contact with Bruno Senna towards the end of the race damaged his suspension and put the Mexican driver out of the race.

Back at the front, Vettel wasted no time in re-taking the lead from Rosberg when the DRS, located down the Kemmel Straight on this occasion, was activated. Massa on the other hand soon found himself held up by the slower Rosberg, as evidenced by Alonso and Hamilton both also soon joining a queue behind the silver machine. Alonso benefitted from this to dive past his teammate at Rivage corner, and two laps later deprived Rosberg of second place in the DRS zone. Hamilton was able to slide his McLaren up the inside of Massa at Pouhon just after the Brazilian lost out to Alonso, and then became the latest man to out-drag Rosberg with the aid of DRS to move up into third.

This became second when Vettel opted to make an early first pit-stop for fresh soft tyres at the end of lap 5. The new race leader Alonso made his pit-stop three laps later on lap 8, followed by Massa on lap 9, Hamilton on lap 10 and Rosberg on lap 11. The net order at the front remained the same after this initial round of pit-stops, with one exception. Webber had pitted for medium tyres on lap 3, and as such had gained considerable ground on the leaders in clean air. He ended up a net third place, though this was briefly second as he executed a brave pass around the outside of Alonso through Eau Rouge as the Ferrari exited the pits. By the end of the next lap though, Alonso had heated up his new tyres and subsequently had little trouble in wresting second place back from the Australian.

The Spaniard also negotiated the yet-to-stop Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi on the following lap, but the same could not be said for Hamilton. As he passed the Japanese driver along the Kemmel Straight with the help of the DRS, Kobayashi's low-downforce configuration enabled to him to remain side-by-side with Hamilton. Presuming he had cleared Kobayashi, Hamilton drew left as he approached Les Combes, resulting in contact. This put Hamilton in the barriers and out the race, and led to the appearance of the Safety Car as the debris was cleared.

Vettel leapt on the opportunity to make a 'free' pit-stop, resuming third behind Alonso and Webber, and ahead of Massa, Rosberg and Adrian Sutil. At the restart on lap 17, the order of the race was shuffled once more as Vettel eased past teammate Webber for second and Rosberg took fourth place away from Massa, again profiting from DRS in the process. With Vettel now in second place and on far fresher tyres, it was only a matter of time before he found his way back to the lead of the race. The deal was done on lap 18 at the usual DRS-assisted location of Les Combes.

Further back, Schumacher and Button had managed to sneak into seventh and eighth places behind Sutil courtesy of having gotten the harder compound tyres out of the way at the start of the race. Having recovered from nineteenth place after his first stop, Button was very much on a roll as he used his soft tyres to good effect, overtaking Schumacher, Sutil, Massa and Rosberg in the space of five laps to reach an impressive fourth place. This became first place as the leading trio all made their next pit-stops between laps 29 and 31, though Vettel breezed by Button to re-assume the lead at Les Combes on lap 32 before the sole remaining McLaren driver made his next pit-stop at the end of that lap.
He re-joined the action in fourth place, seven seconds adrift of Webber in third, but both soft tyre-shod men began to make significant inroads on second-place man Alonso, whose Ferrari was struggling on the medium compound. Webber made his move on lap 37 at, you guessed it, Les Combes, whilst Button emulated the move five laps later to move up into third place. There was no catching Vettel ahead however, even in spite of the German having to finish the race on medium tyres like Alonso. He cruised to an untroubled seventeenth career victory to extend his championship lead over runner-up Webber to a huge 92 points. Button's third place moves him up to fourth place in the standings ahead of the non-scoring Hamilton.

Fourth place for Alonso was enough to see him move into third place in the championship, ten points behind Webber, whilst Schumacher passed both Sutil and teammate Rosberg in the closing stages to take a superb fifth position on his twentieth anniversary race. Rosberg hung onto sixth ahead of Sutil, with Massa dropping to eighth position after an extra pit-stop caused by a puncture. The top ten were completed by Vitaly Petrov for Renault and Pastor Maldonado for Williams, who put in a strong drive to take his first ever career point. Paul Di Resta drove solidly in a solid if unspectacular fashion to finish eleventh, ahead of a recovering Kobayashi and an embattled Senna.

Jarno Trulli came home a strong fourteenth position to win the battle of the new-team drivers ahead of teammate Heikki Kovalainen and the second Williams of Rubens Barrichello who lost time late on after shedding his front wing on the back of Kobayashi's car. Rounding out the finishers were Jerome D'Ambrosio, who became the first Belgian driver to contest his home race since 1994, his Virgin teammate Timo Glock and the solitary Hispania of Vitantonio Liuzzi – Daniel Ricciardo in the sister car failed to finish due to mechanical woes.

After Vettel's convincing victory at a track where the Red Bull was supposedly not as fast as its rivals, it's becoming extremely difficult to see anybody else clinching this year's championship with just seven races left. It certainly looks as if the champion-elect has put the difficulties of the last few races behind him, and that new-found confidence is seemingly making him almost impossible to beat whatever the circumstances. We can only hope that the chasing pack can make the remaining races as exciting as this one has been.

Belgian Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report

Sebastian Vettel returned from Formula One's summer break in the finest possible fashion by attaining yet another pole position at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The drying track surface threw up a fairly unconventional starting order, but amidst the confusion, Vettel's lap was good enough to keep his Red Bull team's perfect 2011 qualifying record intact. Lewis Hamilton qualified half a second adrift of Vettel in second place, ahead of Mark Webber and Felipe Massa.

Q1   

The intermediate was the tyre of choice in Q1, where a rain shower had suitably dampened the track. Things got off to a dramatic start when Michael Schumacher's Mercedes shed a wheel on the run down to Rivage corner on his initial out-lap, pitching the silver car into the barriers and consigning the seven-time champion to the back of the grid. Once things got away in earnest, the ever-drying track meant that the times kept tumbling. Hamilton set a 2'09.5 early on for McLaren to top the timesheets, before the Red Bull pairing began to trade fastest times: Vettel went fastest on a 2'07.7, before losing P1 to teammate Webber whose lap was eight tenths of a second quicker. Vettel then proceeded to re-take the upper hand with a 2'06.6, before Webber raised the bar by over two seconds with a 2'04.5. Hamilton then disrupted this intra-team battle by posting a 2'04.2, but his reign was cut short by his teammate Jenson Button as he went three tenths faster. Hamilton responded with a 2'03.0, before Button set one final lap that would see him end the session on top – a 2'01.8, over ten seconds faster than his very first lap of the session. Things weren't going quite so smoothly for F1's third Brit as a spin at the Bus Stop chicane meant that Paul Di Resta was sat on the 'bubble' in 17^th position during the final minutes of the session. Believing their man to be safe, his Force India team ordered him to pit, but failed to recognise the threat posed by Heikki Kovalainen, who snatched the final ticket to Q2 at the eleventh hour. This meant Di Resta was out, along with the stricken Schumacher and the remaining new-team cars.

Eliminated – Paul Di Resta (Force India), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Timo Glock (Virgin), Jerome D'Ambrosio (Virgin), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania), Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)

Q2

A brief sprinkle of rain moistened the track once more in between the two sessions, meaning the whole field would again have to use the intermediate tyre. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso opened up the going for the session with a 2'09.2, but was soon beaten by a full two seconds by Button, a man very much at home in such conditions. Hamilton and Webber both failed to best the Hungarian GP winner's time, but Vettel was able to eke out an extra tenth to take the top spot, a position he would hold until the red flags were shown with seven minutes left on the clock. The reason the session was stopped was a flurry of debris left on the track by Adrian Sutil, who after posting the fifth fastest time proceeded to run his Force India on to the slippery kerbs on the exit of Eau Rouge at the beginning of his next attempt. The car span straight into the barriers as a result, denying Sutil the chance to compete any further in the session and further compounding a disappointing afternoon for Force India. When the session got underway once more, the track had dried even more, allowing Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi to briefly take first, though he was promptly dispatched from such a heady position by a succession of fast times from Alonso, Button, Webber, Vettel and Hamilton, whose lap at one point appeared to be wrecked by traffic. The Briton didn't let this setback stop him though, as he muscled his way past the slower Williams of Pastor Maldonado at the Bus Stop en route to setting the fastest time of 2'02.8. The Venezuelan driver missed the Q3 cut as a consequence, prompting the incensed rookie to make an ill-judged swipe at Hamilton's McLaren as he drew alongside after the La Source hairpin. Whether he'll receive a penalty for his outburst is yet to be seen. While Hamilton soared into Q3, the other McLaren of Button surprisingly failed to make the grade as his team, mistakenly as it turned out, instructed him to return to the pits with several minutes still to run. He'll begin tomorrow's race from a lowly 13^th on the grid.

Eliminated – Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Jenson Button (McLaren), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Adrian Sutil (Force India), Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus)

Q3

By this time, the track had dried sufficiently for the remaining ten runners to equip dry tyres, with everybody naturally choosing the soft compound over the slower, more durable medium compound. Alonso was the first heavy-hitter to set a time, his 1'54.6 demonstrating the performance differential between a dry and wet track. Webber then bettered the Spaniard's time by eight tenths, and looked a strong bet for pole position for much of the session with a succession of fastest times, culminating in a 1'49.4. With a few minutes to go though, Vettel suddenly seized the advantage by going two tenths faster than the Australian. Hamilton was then able to go a half a second faster than Vettel, seemingly endangering the Red Bull monopoly on pole position, but as the chequered flag fell the German ace pulled a further half-second out of the bag to secure the twenty-fourth pole position of his career. Hamilton was thus forced to settle for second, whilst Webber failed to improve on his earlier time which ended up being only good enough for third. Felipe Massa unexpectedly outqualified teammate Alonso, who mysteriously could only muster eighth on the grid. Between the two Ferraris on the grid therefore lie Nico Rosberg for Mercedes, Jaime Alguersauri's Toro Rosso after an exceptional performance from the youngster and Bruno Senna's Renault, who replaces Nick Heidfeld in the seat for this event and the next. Perez along with Vitaly Petrov in the other Renault rounds out the top ten.

Top Ten – Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Bruno Senna (Renault), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Vitaly Petrov (Renault)

My Prediction

Despite the rain in today's qualifying session, tomorrow's race reportedly is likely to be dry, at least until the closing stages. Therefore it's tricky to see how any of his opponents are to deny Vettel his seventh win of the season:

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

Hamilton and Webber will hold station to the respective remaining podium finishes, whilst Alonso will move up to fourth ahead of teammate Massa. Rosberg will continue his usual habit of finishing lower than he started, whilst Alguersauri and Senna's excitement at starting so high up the grid will translate into a collision between the pair. This will allow Button to take seventh, ahead of Perez, Petrov and the ever-consistent Kobayashi.

The unpredictability of the weather in the Ardenne forest means anything at all could happen – Button could stage another miraculous comeback should the rain come down earlier and harder than anticipated, whilst Schumacher will undoubtedly be doing a rain dance in order for him to have the best possible chance of a good result at the very circuit where he made his sensational debut twenty years ago. Don't forget to come back here tomorrow to read all about what promises to be another exciting grand prix.

The Sensible Season

For the Formula One circus, the summer break is often a time when speculation about who's heading where for next season is rife. Like last year however, Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes are all but certain to retain their current drivers, whilst many of the midfield teams are also seemingly content with their line-ups. This means the 'Silly Season' is once more proving to be something of a damp squib, although there are still question marks hanging over certain teams and drivers as to their plans for 2012 and beyond.

A lot rides on whether Robert Kubica can recover from his injuries in time to re-take his rightful place at Renault next season. If not, then it's possible that Nick Heidfeld could stay on alongside the contracted Vitaly Petrov, but team principal Eric Bouiller has not done a particularly brilliant job in concealing his disappointment with the experienced German's performances thus far. Rumours are abound that as early as the Singapore Grand Prix, Heidfeld could be replaced by GP2 championship leader Romain Grosjean, who replaced the disgraced Nelson Piquet Jr. at Renault two years ago. He failed to make an impression then, leading to his replacement by Petrov, but his decimation of several fancied runners in GP2 this year would appear to have earned him a second chance.

If Kubica cannot return, expect Grosjean to slot in beside Petrov for next year unless Heidfeld seriously raises his game. In fact, should Petrov fail to impress for the remainder of the year, it's far from inconceivable that Grosjean could take the Russian's seat in the event that Kubica does return. Looking down the grid however, there are precious few seats for either Heidfeld or Petrov to occupy should they be shown the boot at Renault. Sauber recently confirmed that both Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez would remain on their driving strength for at least another year, whilst over at Force India, both Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta have probably done just about enough to warrant their retention by the team, even if team owner Vijay Mallya has admitted he is in no rush to announce as much.

The situation at Williams is less certain. Whilst it appears unlikely that the Grove-based outfit would drop Pastor Maldonado due to the amount of financial backing he brings, Rubens Barrichello's seat could be under threat. The Brazilian is raring to go for a twentieth successive F1 campaign, but his recent criticism of the team combined with his reported $5m annual pay packet could make recruiting another young gun a more attractive option. Many other talented GP2 drivers, including Giedo Van Der Garde, Jules Bianchi, Charles Pic and Sam Bird, are all desperate for an F1 chance next year – taking one of them on would certainly help balance the books financially, but continuity may be what the beleaguered Williams team needs as it searches to regain its lost momentum.

Toro Rosso is another team whose drivers appear less than secure, particularly as its raison d'être is to give Red Bull Junior Team members a point of entry to F1. The scheme's latest hopeful, Daniel Ricciardo, is already turning heads at Hispania and seems set to join the Faenza-based team next year. That means that either Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguersauri is going to have to make way, and the jury is still out as to which one. The former has scored two more points than the latter, though Alguersauri has featured in the points four times in the last five races. Thus, much depends on the final eight races for the pair, particularly as the only other possible outlets for either are likely to be among the bottom three teams.

Lotus is one such outlet; though there has been talk of the team renewing Jarno Trulli's contract, his motivation to continue battling it out with the Virgins and Hispanias at the rear of the grid is questionable. Should the popular Italian decide to call it a day, that would free up a space for a driver such as Heidfeld or Buemi to measure themselves against the highly-rated Heikki Kovalainen at a team which may not be too far away from becoming a solid midfield contender. Jerome D'Ambrosio's seat at Virgin could also be up for grabs come season's end, but it has to be said that the Anglo-Russian team's prospects are decidedly gloomier than those of Lotus. Quite why a driver of Timo Glock's calibre has committed himself there for another three seasons is beyond this writer.

Vitantonio Liuzzi seems set to stay on at Hispania, though there should be a vacancy alongside him next year unless Ricciardo's scheduled departure to Toro Rosso is delayed by extraordinary performances from both Buemi and Alguersauri in the latter half of this year. It's anybody's guess as to who may end up filling the young Australian's seat, particularly with the likes of Nico Hulkenberg, Bruno Senna and Lucas Di Grassi all waiting patiently in the wings for a reprieve.

Of course, the main reason why there looks to be such little driver movement this year is the fact that all the championship's big-hitters are going nowhere. However, 2013 could provide us with a real shuffle of the deck: Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber look set for retirement, whilst Felipe Massa's Ferrari contract is unlikely to be extended unless he can markedly improve his form. This will give opportunities to highly-rated youngsters such as Kobayashi, Perez, Di Resta and Ricciardo to take their places, in turn creating a number of gaps among the midfield teams that would require filling too. Such a scenario occurred both in 2006-07 and 2009-10 as a result of several big names either moving teams or leaving the sport altogether.

What would also add further spice to the driver market, as it did in 2009-10, would be more slots on the grid. The rules cater for up to thirteen teams, yet at present we have only twelve. With Epsilon Euskadi, Stefan GP and Durango all having been rejected last year, surely the FIA should invite more applications to fill the void. An extra two grid slots could be the difference between a potential world champion getting a chance to prove themselves and not, and perhaps more to the point, any prospective entrant is unlikely to do much worse than Hispania managed last year. 

The Curious Case of Kimi Raikkonen

This week, former world champion Jacques Villeneuve has come out and said that, in his sagely opinion, Kimi Raikkonen was not a deserved recipient of the title that he secured four years ago. As I read this, the words 'pot', 'kettle' and 'black' all immediately sprang to mind. How fortuitous was it for Villeneuve that he made his F1 debut for the absolute dominant team in the form of Williams, and that his teammate to whom he lost the championship, Damon Hill, was given the boot by Sir Frank at the end of the year and consigned to the uncompetitive Arrows for the following season?

On the other hand, Raikkonen was a driver of truly exceptional ability. You could argue that he 'lucked in' to his title as Villeneuve suggests, but the fact of the matter is that Raikkonen won the two closing races of the 2007 season – that the wheels came off Lewis Hamilton's title challenge at the same time shouldn't detract from Raikkonen's achievements, else one could rewrite the entire list of champions had luck not intervened. Perhaps Villeneuve would like to contend Sebastian Vettel was lucky last year that Fernando Alonso got held up by Vitaly Petrov at Abu Dhabi? Or that Lewis Hamilton was lucky in 2008 that Timo Glock couldn't quite keep him at bay through the final bend of Interlagos? Or even, God forbid, that he was lucky that Michael Schumacher drove into his sidepod at Jerez instead of re-grouping and taking the race lead back?

Had it not been for his 2007 title, Raikkonen would have surely been up there with Stirling Moss and Gilles Villeneuve among the ranks of the best drivers to have never won the title. His two near misses in 2003 and 2005 strengthen this assertion, in much the same way Nigel Mansell was thrice the bridesmaid before finally becoming the bride in 1992. That said, the Finn's sub-par form when it came to his title defence remains something of a mystery, and he appears to be amidst a period of soul-searching with his forays into rallying and NASCAR. Still, it was a huge loss to F1 that, at the end of 2009, Raikkonen decided to call time on a sparkling career that yielded 18 wins, 62 podiums and 579 points, a pretty staggering figure in old money.

The 21-year-old joined the midfield Sauber team in 2001 on the sole strength of a dominant Formula Renault campaign, with only a total of 23 car races to his name. Whilst he didn't upstage teammate Nick Heidfeld, he performed exceptionally for somebody of such little experience. When Mika Hakkinen announced his sabbatical (which later became full-blown retirement) at the end of the season, Raikkonen was selected as the man to fill the breach at McLaren. His points tally may not have been quite as impressive as that of new teammate David Coulthard in 2002, but he did come within an oil slick-induced error of winning his first race at Magny-Cours.

Already being touted as one the fastest men in the sport, Raikkonen's excellent 2003 season saw him come within just two points of beating Schumacher to the championship. He took his debut win at Sepang and racked up a further nine podiums, outscoring Coulthard by a hefty 40 points. The horrendous unreliability of McLaren's 2004 challenger all but excluded Raikkonen from the reckoning that year, but in 2005, he took seven wins en route to another near miss, this time behind Alonso. He nonetheless saw off a challenge from new teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who after a disappointing first half of 2006 would suddenly defect to NASCAR.

Conversely, a winless '06 season for Raikkonen would lead him to not forsake the sport, but merely his team as he signed for McLaren's arch-rivals, Ferrari, for 2007. Schumacher's retirement had left a vacancy at the famed Italian team, and the partnership immediately gelled as Raikkonen took the chequered flag on his debut for the Scuderia in Australia. However, the consistency of then-rookie sensation Hamilton meant Raikkonen trailed the McLaren pilot by 17 points with just 20 left to play for prior to the final two events. All Raikkonen could do was win on both occasions and hope circumstances would go his way. They did, and that was all she wrote.

With the number one plate embossed on the nose of his Ferrari, Raikkonen was odds-on favourite to scoop his second crown in 2008. With two wins in the first four races, things were looking rosy, but from that point onwards, the 'Iceman' strangely went off the boil. While teammate Felipe Massa went on to rack up another five wins from that point onward, Raikkonen's form was erratic at best. He failed to win again that season, indeed registering six non-scores which served to rule him out of championship contention. Only a late spate of podiums rescued third place in the standings behind Hamilton and Massa from BMW's Robert Kubica.

With the wholesale rule changes coming into force for 2009, the formbook was thoroughly shredded as Ferrari and McLaren began the season as midfield cannon fodder, whilst Brawn GP (née Honda) and Red Bull out of nowhere became the teams to beat. This meant that the first half of the season bore a paltry ten points for Raikkonen, though things picked up thereafter as he went on to score an additional 36 points, including his final career win at Spa (a track where he had recorded three other victories). This elevated him to sixth place in the championship behind the two Brawns, Red Bulls, and a similarly resurgent Hamilton.

By then, it had already been announced that Raikkonen would depart the team at the end of the season to be replaced by Alonso. Speculation linked the Finn to rejoining McLaren alongside Hamilton, becoming a part of the Mercedes buyout of the Brawn team or even being lured by a big-money offer from Toyota before they declared their departure from competition. None of these came to fruition though, and instead Raikkonen decided to turn his hand to rallying by signing for the Citroen Junior Team for 2010.

Thus far, his results have been solid rather than spectacular, having had a best finish of fifth after a year-and-a-half of asking. The axing of Citroen's junior squad for this year has forced Raikkonen to continue under his own 'Ice 1' banner, and it's unclear whether his rallying adventure will continue beyond this year. Should he decided to give it up, it's anybody's guess as to what he'll do next; a return to F1 now seems extremely unlikely, particularly after he last year angrily rejected suggestions by the Renault team that they had been in contact over a potential drive for this season. He has recently dabbled in NASCAR, having completed one third-tier and one second-tier race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but as of the time of writing, he seemingly has no plans to do any more than that.

At age 31, Raikkonen is the same age as Jenson Button and just one year older than Alonso, meaning he is far from past it, unlike a certain French-Canadian driver mentioned earlier in this article. He still has time on his side to explore any one of several different motorsport avenues: IndyCar, Le Mans and Touring Cars all potentially beckon for the man who remains Finland's finest current racing driver. Whatever he tries next, there's little doubt that he has the potential to excel at any discipline to which he should apply himself. The world has certainly not seen the last of Kimi Raikkonen.

Half-Term Report 2011

With eleven races down, it's half-term review time once again. Who deserves to be given a gold star, and who needs to do more homework?

TOP OF THE CLASS

Sebastian Vettel (D, Red Bull) 1^st, 234pts, 6 Wins

Needless to say, with six wins and four second positions to his name, Vettel is the teacher's pet of 2011 thus far. The foundation of his impeccable finishing record has been his equally impressive form on Saturdays – he's taken eight pole positions, and has begun each race from no lower than third on the grid. Even if he's not in a position to win the race, he has an uncanny knack of being able to register a considerable amount of points and subsequently extend his championship lead at most races regardless. Questions marks have been raised over his ability to race wheel-to-wheel, but one need look no further than his performances at Catalunya, Monaco and Silverstone to see that there's nothing wanting in that department, whilst those alluding to a reputation for making critical errors should realise he's made no more than any other of the championship's leading lights. Although McLaren and Ferrari are now just about a match for the erstwhile dominant Red Bull, it would take a brave man to bet against any other driver closing down that enormous 85 point lead.

Best Moment – Soaking up huge pressure from Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button on worn tyres to win at Monaco.

Worst Moment – His lacklustre performance on home turf two weeks ago.

Lewis Hamilton (GB, McLaren) 3^rd, 146pts, 2 Wins

It's been another roller-coaster season for the de facto McLaren number one. His car hasn't always been the fastest, but Hamilton has nearly always managed to extract the very maximum from it at each race. His victory at China was a product primarily of a shrewd tyre strategy than any particularly outstanding driving on the part of the Brit, but his second win at the Nurburgring was a true testament to his abilities. Some of his passes this year has been phenomenal, making it difficult to argue that he isn't the best in the business when it comes to overtaking. His balls-out approach has landed him in trouble again though, most notably in muscling both Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado into retirement at Monaco, as well as himself at Canada after that foolhardy attempt at passing teammate Button. There have also been occasions where his harshness on his tyres has compromised his result, but his fans will argue that that aggression is precisely why they love him. Hopefully, it won't prevent him from fulfilling his obvious potential in years to come.

Best Moment – Scything around the outside of Alonso to take the lead at the Nurburgring.

Worst Moment – His infamous post-race outburst at Monaco.

Fernando Alonso (E, Ferrari), 4^th, 145pts, 1 Win

Much like Hamilton, when his car has been capable, Alonso has delivered the goods. Not only that, but he has utterly dominated his teammate Massa, and is in the unique position among the 'big five' of having his team wholly and unashamedly behind him. He has appeared on the podium at each of the last four races, including his brilliant victory at Silverstone, a race he would have likely won whether or not Vettel's pit crew had made that error or not. Unfortunately, Ferrari's early teething troubles have all but put him out of contention for this year's title, but his new contract to remain with the Scuderia for another five years should theoretically yield at least one more world title in the future for, some would argue, the sport's most complete performer. He may lack the raw single-lap speed of Vettel or the mesmerising overtaking ability of Hamilton, but he more than makes up for it with his consistency, precision, focus, determination and cunning. He might be out of the running for now, but he'll certainly be back next year.

Best Moment – His crushing display at Silverstone.

Worst Moment – Costing himself a probable podium finish with his contact with Hamilton at Malaysia.

SHOWING PROMISE

Jenson Button (GB, McLaren), 5^th, 134pts, 2 Wins

There's no doubting Button's wet-weather prowess after his incredible performances at both Canada and Hungary, but his form in the dry hasn't been quite as jaw-dropping. Granted, he drove exceptionally at Monaco as well, but Malaysia has been the only place other than the principality at which he has beaten teammate Hamilton in dry conditions, the former arguably not really counting after the 2008 champion's qualifying was ruined by Sergio Perez's crash. At Silverstone and the Nurburgring, Button's qualifying has fallen some way short of Hamilton's too, with some of his starts having also left him with too much work to do. That said, he's been no less consistent than either his teammate or Alonso, and one cannot give him enough praise for that extraordinary comeback at Canada. That sixth sense of knowing which tyre to be on at which time has served him well at McLaren so far, and he'll be undoubted favourite at any other wet races this season.

Best Moment – Recovering from last position to take that win at Canada.

Worst Moment – Having his home race curtailed by an errant front-right wheel after his pit-stop.

Nico Rosberg (D, Mercedes), 7^th, 48pts

It's been another trying year for Mercedes, and this will be more frustrating for Rosberg than for any other member of the Brackley-based team. It could be that we're seeing a potential all-time great having the best years of his career wasted, but the questions surrounding teammate Michael Schumacher's real form make it impossible to gauge just how good Rosberg is. In dry conditions, the Mercedes has not at any point really been capable of a podium, particularly in the dawning of the era of near-perfect reliability, but Rosberg has still manage to be 'best of the rest' in terms of points outside of the three race-winning teams. He has been a near-constant presence in Q3, but more often than not his Mercedes' thirst for tyres has seen Rosberg slip backwards from his grid positions. Still, he has generally extracted the maximum out of his car on most occasions, and as per last year vitally has been showing Schumacher the way home more often than not.

Best Moment – Briefly leading the way in China after taking an early first pit-stop.

Worst Moment – Being comprehensively outclassed by Schumacher at Canada.

Kamui Kobayashi (J, Sauber), 11^th, 27pts

Japan's sole representative on the F1 grid has been doing a sterling job this season. He's racked up points on almost every occasion, using his gift for overtaking to turn often-average grid positions into results comfortably inside the top ten by the time the chequered flag falls. Kobayashi has been tasked with developing the Sauber, which has blossomed nicely into a real upper-midfield contender which as of late has been competing convincingly with the Mercedes and Renaults thanks to its inherent kindness on its tyres. So far he has seen off the challenge of promising teammate Sergio Perez, although as the Mexican gathers experience, he could increasingly become a threat. With both Kobayashi and Perez now under contract at Sauber in 2012, it will be interesting to see which of the pair will put themselves in the better position for a possible 'promotion' to Ferrari or elsewhere thereafter.

Best Moment – Finishing a career-best fifth at Monaco.

Worst Moment – Being disqualified from a deserved seventh place at the first race in Australia for a minor technical infringement.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

Mark Webber (AU, Red Bull) 2^nd, 149pts

After some scorching performances last year, Webber was expected to be a match for teammate Vettel heading into 2011. In the first half of the season however, he has disappointed. He's yet to win a race so far despite three pole positions, and on only one occasion has he been able to finish higher than Vettel. Arguably, there are few drivers who would have been able to do any better, but compared to his excellent season last year, he seems to have lost that extra edge. That said, the season hasn't been a total disaster: he's finished in the top five every single race, meaning the mild-mannered Australian sits ahead of Hamilton, Alonso and Button in the standings; that certainly doesn't happen by accident. It's just a shame he hasn't risen to the challenge of matching his newly-crowned teammate in quite the way many were hoping.

Best Moment – Taking his best finish of the season with second place at Turkey.

Worst Moment – Only managing a distant third at the Nurburgring, despite starting from pole and his excellent record at the track in previous years.

Vitaly Petrov (RU, Renault) 9^th, 32pts

The jury is out just how good Russia's first ever F1 driver really is. Matters haven't been helped by Robert Kubica's absence, who last year provided a useful benchmark with which to compare Petrov. Instead, Petrov is up against the veteran campaigner Nick Heidfeld in the other side of the garage, whose form has been just as erratic as his teammate's. Petrov got off to a flying start with a podium first time out, but as the Renault has gradually slipped down the pecking order, so have his performances. His qualifying form has generally been better than Heidfeld's, usually featuring in Q3, but has never really given the impression of truly outperforming the car since Melbourne. Despite being under contract at Renault next year, Petrov will need a few more solid point-scoring afternoons before he can consider his seat totally safe.

Best Moment – Standing on the podium for the first time in his career at Melbourne.

Worst Moment – Throwing away a clutch of points at Malaysia after launching his car over a large hump in the run-off area.

Adrian Sutil (D, Force India) 12^th, 18pts

Like Kobayashi, Sutil has faced the onslaught of having a promising rookie as a teammate. Also like Kobayashi, he has so far accumulated comfortably more points than said teammate, but like Perez at Sauber Paul Di Resta has shown a considerable degree of promise, particularly with his seventh place finish last time out at Hungary. On the other hand, Sutil squandered a handy starting position with an error on the first lap, and that will hand something of a psychological advantage to the Scot heading into the summer break. That said, Sutil's drive to sixth at the Nurburgring was equally brilliant, and he has generally been the more consistent of the Force India pairing so far. With the driver market looking distinctly static this year, the question is whether Sutil can stay on top of Di Resta for long enough to ensure his market value remains.

Best Moment – Finishing ahead of both Mercedes in sixth at the Nurburgring after a faultless drive.

Worst Moment – Puncturing a tyre after clipping the back of Rosberg during a Safety Car restart at Canada, also receiving a drive-through penalty to add insult to injury.

MUST TRY HARDER

Felipe Massa (BR, Ferrari) 6^th, 70pts

What has happened to the Massa of yesteryear? You know, the one came within a whisker of becoming world champion? The answer is that he is there; he just isn't able to flourish in the Alonso-centric world of Ferrari. With less than half of Alonso's points tally to his name, it has been a bleak year for Massa. He's yet to take a trip to the podium, and has been comprehensively outclassed on almost every occasion by his teammate. The team orders 'scandal' last year at Hockenheim will hardly have done wonders for his confidence, but there's just something extremely frustrating about watching Massa fail to show that sparkle that saw him come so very close to glory in 2008. Once again, after much speculation the Brazilian seems set to stay put at Ferrari for another year, but one wonders whether a switch to a lower pressure environment such as Renault or Williams could possibly unlock that speed we saw three years ago.

Best Moment – Looking like a genuine match for Alonso at China.

Worst Moment – Coming home an ignominious eleventh place after a particularly sub-par performance at Turkey.

Nick Heidfeld (D, Renault) 8^th, 34pts

Kubica's unfortunate injuries had the unexpected side effect of handing his old BMW teammate Heidfeld a sorely needed career lifeline: he had been replaced at Sauber by Perez and looked set to be sitting out the season before Renault gave him this golden opportunity. The season hasn't been a catastrophe, but considering his immense experience and talent, one would expected him to have amassed more than just two more points than his relative novice of a teammate, Petrov. Although he has been scoring on a fairly regular basis since his early podium in Malaysia, qualifying has been the main sticking point – starting so low down the order has occasionally left him prone to accidents, as we saw at the Nurburgring in particular. Although eighth in the standings is about as good as anybody could have hoped for given the quality of the car at his disposal, it's just disappointing that he hasn't achieved more. It would be a crying shame if that spells the end of the F1 road for the likeable German.

Best Moment – Making a blistering start at Malaysia en route to a superb third place finish.

Worst Moment – Costing himself the chance of points by tagging the back of Kobayashi at Canada.

Michael Schumacher (D, Mercedes) 10^th, 32pts

By now, it's probably safe to say that Schumacher's comeback hasn't quite gone according to plan. Podiums, wins, even a eighth world title seemed well within reach, but it was obvious that both Schumacher and Mercedes would have to raise their respective games massively to make those ambitions reality in 2011. Here we are, and Schumacher still seems a shadow of his former self, whilst equally the team are still struggling to keep up with the big boys ahead. Canada and Spain have been the highlights, both tracks where Schumacher has thrived in the past, but there's been little else to celebrate for the sport's most successful ever driver. Inconsistency in qualifying and a rather large share of contact have both impaired his results, and similarly to last year, he trails teammate Rosberg in the points standings. Schumacher has another year left on his current contract, but unless Mercedes can make a giant leap forward pace-wise, it's difficult to imagine Schumacher achieving anything more than what he has done up to now.
Best Moment - Fighting it out for his first post-comeback podium at Canada.
Worst Moment - Clattering into Petrov at Turkey at the expense of his front wing.
What about the Rest?

Perez and Di Resta look set to remain in mortal combat for 'Rookie of the Year' honours this year, with both having shown the occasional glimmer of genius that should both see them land top-line drives in the next few years, even if they haven't been able to touch their more experienced teammates in terms of points. More evenly matched teammates can be found in the Toro Rosso line-up of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersauri, who have both raised their games this year, even if the latter did get off to something of a slow start – the jury is still out as to which of the duo Daniel Ricciardo will replace at the team next year. As for Williams, 2011 has been a dire season so far, with Rubens Barrichello having picked up just four points. He's coming under increasing pressure from teammate Pastor Maldonado, who after taking a while to find his feet is blossoming into a solid midfield driver. Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli are both still considerably lower down the grid for Lotus than their talent deserves to be, as does Timo Glock for Virgin, who has generally outpaced new teammate Jerome D'Ambrosio, the Belgian himself having earned respectability. Vitantonio Liuzzi is doing just about as much as one could ask of a Hispania driver, though he'll do well to keep young teammate Ricciardo at bay for the rest of the year, a driver seemingly set for stardom.