Singapore Grand Prix 2011 - Race Report

Sebastian Vettel sailed serenely to his ninth win of the season under the night-time sky of Singapore. After converting a commanding pole position into an early lead, none of his rivals ever looked like troubling the German as he took another step towards what is now an inevitable second title. Jenson Button finished second by less than two seconds come the chequered flag thanks to a spirited late charge, but it was simply too little too late to truly threaten Vettel. Mark Webber completed the podium in third place, ahead of Fernando Alonso and an embattled Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull continued their domination of this year’s qualifying sessions by securing the front row, Vettel three tenths faster than teammate Webber. The McLarens of Button and Hamilton occupied the second row, the latter not helped by suffering a puncture in Q2 that limited him to a single run in Q3, with the Ferraris of Alonso and Massa next in line from the Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.

As the race began, Vettel made a smooth getaway which meant he lead the field as the twenty-four starters approached the first sequence of corners, but Webber was once more rather slower away. He lost places to Button and Alonso, whilst Hamilton abandoned an ambitious move up the inside of the Australian. This meant that he in turn was also passed by Massa and Rosberg, with Schumacher following suit on the initial run into turn 7; Hamilton thus found himself in a lowly eighth place at the end of the first lap. It took him just five laps to find his way back past the Mercedes twosome into sixth place, but passing former championship adversary Massa would prove more challenging.

Meanwhile, Vettel had already begun to speed away from his competitors at a rate of over a second per lap. Alonso seemed unable to either challenge Button for second or shake off Webber behind, with Massa and Hamilton also forming an orderly queue behind the Spaniard. Webber was able to take advantage of Alonso’s struggle for rear tyre grip as he forced his way past into third place at turn 15 on lap 10, Alonso pitting at the end of the lap to replace his worn super soft tyres. Massa and Hamilton did likewise one lap later, the pair emerging from the pit-lane the same order in which they entered.

Hamilton’s travails began as he attempted to execute an ill-judged pass around the outside of Massa with the help of DRS at turn 7 on lap 12. In an incident very similar to the one he experienced with Webber twelve months ago, Hamilton turned in too soon and shed half of his front wing on the rear of Massa’s car. Both men were thus forced to make an additional pit-stop, the former to replace his nose and the latter to replace a de-laminated rear-right tyre. They consequently ended up well down the field, Hamilton even more so after being given a drive-through penalty just to add insult to injury.

By the time the other leading cars had all made their first stops by the end of lap 19, the order was Vettel from Button, Alonso and Webber, the Ferrari driver having successfully ‘undercut’ the Red Bull thanks to stopping two laps sooner. Rosberg and Schumacher held fifth and sixth places briefly before having to stop again on laps 22 and 24 respectively, during which time they fell behind the Force Indias of Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil as well as Sauber’s Sergio Perez. Rosberg wasted little time dispatching Perez for seventh, but undid his hard work after running wide on to an ocean of marbles at the final corner a lap later. Perez slipped back past, but Rosberg wasn’t prepared to let the Mexican regain the place so easily – he immediately darted to the inside, braked late and forced Perez wide at the first corner to avoid a collision.

Schumacher was running just behind this battle, and was clearly eager to keep up with teammate Rosberg ahead. On lap 30, he attempted to overtake Perez’s Sauber up the inside at the rather unconventional location of turn 8. However, the young rookie was unsighted and took his usual line, while Schumacher out-braked himself, launching over the back of Perez’s rear wheel and hitting the barrier with considerable force. Needless to say that this incident marked the end of the road for the seven-time champion, but surprisingly Perez’s car escaped any notable damage save for a punctured tyre which he was able to have replaced without losing any positions.

This was because the ensuing Safety Car prompted everybody who hadn’t stopped in the last five or so laps to do so again whilst the pack was slowed up, including Vettel, Button, Webber, the two Force Indias and Rosberg. The Safety Car remained on track for three laps, though unfortunately for Vettel’s pursuers, several backmarkers lay between the race leader and the chasing pack. This allowed Vettel to build up his advantage over Button once more as the Safety Car retired to the pits, though Webber was now right on the tail of third-placed Alonso. Benefitting from fresher tyres, Webber was able to take back the final podium place at the notorious turn 10 on lap 34, but lacked the pace to close the gap to Button ahead.

In the meantime, a train of cars had formed from fifth-placed Di Resta all the way back to Hamilton, who had by now recovered to ninth. The former champion’s impressive comeback continued as he was able to make his way to the head of the group in the space of just five laps, but by this time he had lost considerable ground to Alonso in fourth. He would have to repeat his hard work some laps later after making his fifth and final pit-stop of the evening, as the cars he had just passed were all on two-stop strategies and were hence not counting on replacing their tyres again for the remainder of the race.

The order of the top four never particularly seemed as if would change after Webber moved into third until Button suddenly found a late turn of speed with around ten laps to go. He was able to cut the deficit to Vettel from a peak of over fifteen seconds to around half that with five laps to go and less than four seconds with three laps to go. Those who were hoping for a repeat of the final lap of the Canadian Grand Prix however would be apparently denied due to back-marking traffic that cost the McLaren driver dearly, but in reality it seemed nobody was ever truly in the position to deny Vettel a deserved nineteenth career victory.

Button’s second place and Webber’s third place marked both men’s eighth visit to the podium this year, the former moving ahead of Alonso in the championship standings after the Ferrari number one could do no more than fourth place. Hamilton lost further ground in the battle for championship runner-up by finishing behind his rivals in fifth, ahead of fellow Brit Di Resta who drove excellently to a creditable sixth place. Rosberg came home seventh in rather a weekend to forget for Mercedes, ahead of compatriot Sutil who further consolidated Force India’s sixth place in the constructors’ standings with eighth place.

Massa trailed home in ninth after an eventful afternoon, one place ahead Perez whose recent test for Ferrari as part of the team’s young driver programme has confirmed him as a possible successor of the Brazilian’s alongside Alonso at the famed Italian squad in 2013. Pastor Maldonado just missed out on a points-finish in eleventh place, with his Williams teammate Rubens Barrichello coming home thirteenth behind Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi and ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in the second Sauber, who eventually wound up fourteenth after being awarded a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags.

In a wretched weekend for the Renault team, Bruno Senna finished a disappointing fifteenth, though this was still enough to beat more experienced teammate Vitaly Petrov who somewhat embarrassingly finished behind the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen in seventeenth. Jerome D’Ambrosio crossed the line for Virgin in eighteenth, with the finishers being rounded off the by the Hispania duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Vitantonio Liuzzi. Joining Schumacher in the list of retirees was the other Lotus of Jarno Trulli, who succumbed to gearbox failure, while Jaime Alguersauri and Timo Glock both suffered near-identical encounters with the barriers at turn 18 that brought an abrupt end to both of their races.

Vettel is now in need of just one point to clinch the championship, with Jenson Button now the only man who can mathematically stop him. He would however have to win all five of the remaining races with Vettel failing to score a single point, making such an outcome hardly a punter’s delight – although one bookmaker is still offering odds of 569 to 1 if you’re feeling particularly optimistic. The only thing that Button, Alonso, Hamilton and Webber now have about which to be optimistic are their chances of taking second place in the championship, which should provide some useful momentum headed into 2012. It will take more than momentum if any of them are planning to prevent Vettel from taking a third consecutive title, mind.

Singapore Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report

Sebastian Vettel stormed to yet another pole position in the latest dominant display by his Red Bull team around the streets of Singapore. Vettel has the opportunity to be crowned the sport’s youngest ever double champion if things go his way during tomorrow’s race, and his eleventh pole position of the season will put him in the best possible place to wrap things up. But, teammate Mark Webber as well as the hungry McLaren duo of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton will be determined to make Vettel work for it as they line up just behind the German.

Q1

The technical nature of the Marina Bay street circuit meant that tyre suppliers Pirelli opted to bring the soft and super-soft compounds to the tiny South-East Asian city-state for the teams to make use of this weekend. The leading contenders all began the first qualifying session of the evening on the soft compound, the first of whom to set a time was none other than champion-in-waiting Vettel with a 1’47.1. Webber’s first attempt was an entire second adrift of that of his teammate, but more encouraging was Hamilton’s opening run which was a tenth of a second quicker than Vettel. The other McLaren of Button was then able to shave a few more hundredths off the benchmark, but it didn’t take too long for normal service to be resumed – Vettel’s second lap was a lightning fast 1’46.4. Fernando Alonso failed to translate his impressive practice form into qualifying form, initially at least, as his first lap was only good enough to slot himself into fourth place behind Vettel and the two McLarens. Webber’s second lap left him trailing in fifth, still the better part of a second slower than the pacesetter at the wheel of the other Red Bull, ahead of Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher. By way of using the super-softs, both Sergio Perez and Adrian Sutil were able to haul themselves into the top ten during the closing stages of the session, but one driver unable to make them count was Renault’s Vitaly Petrov. After the team’s planned upgrade package was canned after practice due to overheating issues, the black-and-gold cars were rather off the pace. On the soft tyres, Petrov could muster only a lowly nineteenth (putting him behind the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen on super softs), and could only improve by two positions after equipping the options. This put teammate Bruno Senna on the brink of elimination, but the inexperienced Brazilian responded well enough to secure his place in Q2 at the expense of Petrov, who consequently slipped back into the drop zone along with the six Lotuses, Virgins and Hispanias.

Eliminated – Vitaly Petrov (Renault), Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus), Jarno Trulli (Lotus), Timo Glock (Virgin), Jerome D’Ambrosio (Virgin), Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania)

Q2

Lewis Hamilton was the man who set the Q2 ball rolling, but unlike his competitors he posted his first, and what would later transpire to be his only, lap time of the session using the soft tyres. He did eventually attempt to set a time on the super softs, but was prevented from completing his lap after he sustained a puncture on his right-rear tyre. Despite this mishap, he still finished the session in eighth which still allowed him to compete for pole position later on. His 1’46.8 was topped first by Webber, Button and then Vettel, who were all benefitting from the extra grip of the super softs, Vettel holding P1 with an astonishing 1’44.9 when the session was red-flagged with just over nine minutes left on the clock. This was due to Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber clouting the barriers at the infamous double chicane of turn 10 having been airborne thanks to the Japanese hot-shoe mounting the particularly high kerbs in a rather over-enthusiastic manner. When the session resumed, everybody bar Vettel, Button, Webber and Alonso (who had set the fourth fastest time prior to the red flags) immediately made a beeline for the track, with Massa, Rosberg and Schumacher all besting Hamilton’s previous time set on softs. Behind the Briton, the battle for the final two Q3 slots boiled down to the two Force Indias of Sutil and Paul Di Resta along with the sole remaining Sauber of Perez. Ultimately, it was the Mexican that lost out by just a tenth, meaning that he would line up ahead of the two Williams drivers, as well as the young charges of Toro Rosso who qualified either side of Senna’s Renault and ahead of the stricken Kobayashi.

Eliminated – Sergio Perez (Sauber), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Bruno Senna (Renault), Jaime Alguersauri (Toro Rosso), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)

Q3

Usually, Q3 is a tale of two halves, with the established top six runners going for two runs, and the remaining drivers choosing to preserve tyres by making just one. While the established top six runners did go out on their customary first laps at the very start of the session, no less than three of the other four decided that setting a time in Q3 simply wasn’t worth the bother. Thus, Rosberg cruised to an easy P7 on the grid, whilst Schumacher, Sutil and Di Resta all lined up in numerical order in eighth, ninth and tenth (which, incidentally, was the order in which they would have probably qualified anyway). Hamilton too did only one run, albeit at the start of the session, as the team wanted to claw back the set of tyres lost through the earlier puncture. This one lap was compromised by Hamilton trying to pass Massa, who was running ahead, in the final few corners of his out-lap; this impatience cost the McLaren driver momentum which would ultimately limit him to fourth on the grid. This would be enough to trump both Ferraris, Massa looking particularly lacklustre after qualifying almost a full second shy of fifth-placed Alonso. In the race for pole position, Button began promisingly enough after matching Vettel’s excellent Q2 time on his first run, but this perhaps unsurprisingly wouldn’t be enough to deny Vettel. The reigning champion was in no mood to relinquish the Red Bull stranglehold on pole positions in 2011, lucidly demonstrated by a barnstorming lap time of 1’44.4, an entire second clear of Webber’s disappointing first outing. The Australian’s second crack of the whip was however seven-tenths faster which was sufficient to overhaul Button to reach the front row – the Brit could only improve by one tenth at his second attempt, meaning that Vettel could afford to abandon his second lap safe in the knowledge that a twenty-sixth career pole was his.

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

My Prediction

Weather is yet to be a factor at Singapore, but with the race being nearly two hours long, tyre degradation certain will be. That said, it will take some rather more unpredictable variables to derail Vettel’s bid to take a ninth victory of the season:

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

Button’s hitherto impressive race pace will see him take second place behind the all-conquering Vettel, ahead of Alonso whose often-improved race pace combined with Ferrari’s superior tyre preservation will just about get the nod over Webber, whose speed has recently been below par on Sundays. McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh’s recent call to arms for more aggression on the part of Hamilton will inevitably end in disaster, leaving Massa to take an uneventful fifth ahead of the Mercedes pair, Schumacher again getting the better of Rosberg. Perez will get by on just two pit-stops which will allow him to overhaul both Force India men who will sew up the final points positions finishing in the order in which they began.

However, the nature of the Singapore street circuit lends itself to an elevated degree of unpredictability as the safety car is an ever-present possibility – a Monza-esque cruise to victory for Vettel is far from guaranteed. Whatever happens, don’t forget to report back here tomorrow evening to read all about the night-time action.

Nick Heidfeld: 185 Races Not Won

During this year's Hungarian Grand Prix in July, Nick Heidfeld's race quite literally went up in smoke. Having just made his first pit-stop of the race, he was forced to park his Renault on the grass along the start-finish straight as a fiery inferno occurred as a result of the Renault's front-mounted exhaust overheating its bodywork. Weeks later, it was announced to the world that Bruno Senna would be taking the German's place for Spa. Heidfeld tried, ultimately to no avail, to wrest back what he perceived as his rightful place on the grid through the courts, and with precious few other berths available for 2012, he is facing something of an uncertain future.

At the Hungaroring ten years earlier, Heidfeld drove his Sauber to a commendable sixth place with the latest in a series of fine drives that were marking him out as one to watch. Coming off the back of a bitterly disappointing maiden campaign for Prost in 2000, Heidfeld enjoyed an excellent 2001 season that featured his first podium finish as well as six other points-scoring finishes. His tally of twelve points (a respectable figure bearing in mind the scoring system of the day) put him level with erstwhile champion Jacques Villeneuve and the highly-rated youngster Jarno Trulli, both of whom drove for far more lavishly funded teams in the form of BAR and Jordan respectively. So what's gone wrong in the meantime?

In the eyes of many, this form should have warranted Heidfeld the space at McLaren about to be vacated by Mika Hakkinen. After all, the Woking-based team had supported him in the junior categories, even going so far as to establish a Formula 3000 team with the sole remit of readying their latest protégé for F1. Instead, the McLaren top brass chose Heidfeld's Sauber teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, who despite having amassed fewer points had done so with vastly less experience, the Finn having made the gigantic step up to F1 from Formula Renault.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and looking back it's difficult to contend that McLaren made the wrong decision; Raikkonen turned out be arguably the fastest man of his generation, and finally secured an overdue first world championship for Ferrari in 2007 after taking it down to the wire on two earlier occasions for McLaren. It's debatable as to whether Heidfeld had a championship in him given the car, but it's certain that if he was given the same equipment as Raikkonen enjoyed, we would still be lamenting Stefan Johansson as the man with most podium finishes without a win – you don't finish second on eight occasions without being good enough to finish first.

Here we are in 2011 though, and Heidfeld has held this dubious record since his excellent drive to third place in Malaysia five months ago. At the time of writing, it seems probable that this statistic will haunt Heidfeld for the foreseeable future (Nico Rosberg is eight podiums behind, and by the time he racks up that many, few would bet against him having stood on the top step at least once). At the ripe old age of 34, he's hardly the fresh-faced newcomer he was at the turn of the millennium, and there appears besides to be no room at the inn even at any of the midfield teams for next year, let alone the race-winning ones.

Thus, not for the first time, Heidfeld now finds himself in dire need of a stroke of serendipity to revive his flagging F1 career. In 2005, BMW was instrumental in having Heidfeld plucked from the dead-end Jordan team and placed at Williams in 2005, where the German picked up his first pole position on home turf and featured on the podium on three occasions. Moderate success ensued as he drove for BMW's own team after the German manufacturer's acrimonious split with Williams, although the first win remained elusive – the closest he was able to get was when he was forced to give best to teammate Robert Kubica at Montreal in 2008.

When BMW called time on its F1 aspirations after a disastrous 2009 season, Heidfeld was on the sidelines once more. He occupied himself early in the year testing firstly for Mercedes, followed by incoming F1 tyre supplier Pirelli, but was handed an opportunity by former employer Peter Sauber mid-way through 2010 to race in the final five races of the season. This was only to be for a temporary basis however, as Sergio Perez's imminent arrival would leave Heidfeld in search of employment once more come 2011; it was therefore extremely fortunate that the injuries of his former teammate Kubica meant that Renault needed a replacement. This provided Heidfeld a sorely needed opportunity to re-establish his credentials as a top-line F1 driver, as well as to perhaps finally bag that first win he so deserved.

Unfortunately, Malaysia was a false dawn: the Renault thereafter never really looked like visiting the podium as it had done at the opening two rounds of the season, and Heidfeld's results tailed off accordingly. Granted, before his replacement by Senna he had outscored teammate Vitaly Petrov by two points, but this was regarded as just not good enough for a man of over ten year's experience against somebody entering their second season of F1. Combined with the so-called 'spiral of negativity' the team was experiencing according to Eric Bouillier, the Frenchman took the decision to drop Heidfeld while there was no constructor's championship position at stake.

Where does that leave Heidfeld for 2012? Barring another team needing a substitute in the same manner as Renault, his options as far as race seats go appear to be limited to a not-terribly-appealing choice between Virgin and HRT after Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes announced his intentions to retain both of his current drivers. Beyond that, he could always return to a testing role as he did for Mercedes at the start of 2010, or consider his options outside of F1. If he opted for the latter, the likelihood is that this would regrettably mark the end of an F1 career that was once full of promise.

Should this be the case, an obvious choice presents itself. I am, of course, referring to BMW's upcoming assault on the DTM championship. While neither party could reasonably expect instant success, the likes of Hakkinen, Jean Alesi and more recently David Coulthard have demonstrated that adapting to a touring car is far from an impossible task. BMW is currently in the process of assembling its driver line-up, having already confirmed former their former WTCC drivers Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus as well as current Mercedes star Bruno Spengler; what they could benefit from is a name well known in Germany with whom they have already established a good relationship.

For Heidfeld, it would be an unmissable opportunity to finally get back into the position to fight for race wins, and unlike what would probably be the case at Virgin or HRT, he would be paid handsomely for the privilege. Bear in mind that he hasn't tasted victory of any description since he won the Formula 3000 race at the A1 Ring in 1999, Heidfeld could do far worse than join the high-speed world of DTM and finally become the winner he so deserved to be in F1.

Italian Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report

Sebastian Vettel took his eighth win of the season in another commanding performance in today's Italian Grand Prix. After overcoming the fast-starting Ferrari of Fernando Alonso early on, there was no stopping the Red Bull pilot who thereon enjoyed an untroubled run to the chequered flag. Jenson Button finished in second place for McLaren with another impressive drive, whilst Alonso was able to defend third from a late onslaught from Lewis Hamilton in the sister McLaren.

Vettel stamped his authority all over the qualifying session on Saturday, taking pole position by half a second from Hamilton and Button, both of whose final laps were disrupted by errors. Alonso lined up fourth ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull and Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari. Former hero of the tifosi Michael Schumacher lined up in eighth for Mercedes, one place ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg and one behind Vitaly Petrov's Renault.

At the start, a good getaway from Hamilton and a mediocre one from Vettel saw the pair run side-by-side as they approached the first chicane, Rettifilo, for the first time, but neither counted on Alonso making an utterly scorching getaway. To the delight of the Italian crowds, the two-time champion ducked to the right of Hamilton, and after putting a wheel on the grass swept back in front to lead the pack. Vettel held on to second place, but Schumacher's equally electrifying start allowed him to move up into third ahead of Hamilton. Behind however, carnage ensued.

Local driver Vitantonio Liuzzi placed a wheel on the grass as he headed into Rettifilo, causing him to spin across the grass on the right-hand side and broadside the hapless Petrov. The Russian in turn shunted into the equally unfortunate Rosberg, whilst the Williams of Rubens Barrichello behind simply had nowhere else to go. The Brazilian was able to continue after he pitted for a fresh nose, but the other three drivers involved were out of the race immediately. With three cars stranded in the middle of the track, the Safety Car was deployed.

The order was thus Vettel from Alonso and Hamilton, who re-claimed third place from Schumacher through the second Roggia chicane on the first lap. Massa was fifth, ahead of Button sixth and Webber seventh. On the restart two laps later, Hamilton found himself caught out by Schumacher, who made good use of his Mercedes' fearsome top speed. He sauntered past Hamilton before the duo before they arrived at Rettifilo, whilst behind Webber made a similar move to deprive Button of sixth place, the McLaren drivers both hobbled by a low final gear ratio which reduced their top speed relative to their competitors.

Back at the front, Alonso soon found his mirrors full of a certain German Red Bull driver. After some robust defending on the part of the Ferrari driver at Roggia on lap 4 and Rettifilo the following lap, It became evident that it was a question of when, rather than if, Vettel would assume the lead. After bravely hanging his Red Bull around the outside of Alonso through the flat-out Curva Grande on lap 5, Vettel found himself on the inside for Roggia; to the dismay of the tifosi, there was nothing their man could do. Vettel proceeded to storm away from the Spaniard, and from then on the outcome of the race was never truly in doubt.

At the same time, Webber attempted to deprive Massa of fifth place at Rettifilo, but only succeeding in clattering into the luckless Brazilian and causing him to spin, breaking his Red Bull's front wing in the process. Whilst the Ferrari number two would continue in twelfth place, Webber endeavoured to continue without his front wing, but ended up neatly demonstrating the disastrous impact this had on his cornering performance by locking up and sailing into the barriers at Parabolica. The Australian was thus left to contemplate his first retirement of the season as Massa set about recovering from this setback.

Meanwhile, it was apparent that Schumacher was holding up Hamilton behind him. Although his top speed was good enough to resist any of Hamilton's advances at Rettifilo, his inferior traction meant that the seven-time champion was obliged to indulge in some rather questionable tactics in order to keep hold of the final podium place. This had the effect of allowing Alonso to escape into the distance while the now fifth-placed Button cruised up behind. On lap 16, Hamilton was forced off the throttle through Curva Grande as the slower Schumacher chopped across his line, allowing Button to swoop by his teammate into fourth.

Having watched his teammate's frustrated efforts to pass Schumacher for the past several laps, Button gave Hamilton a lesson in overtaking when he made a textbook pass around the outside of Schumacher at the Ascari chicane on the same lap. Schumacher made his first pit-stop at the end of the lap, with Hamilton following suit two laps later. After re-joining behind the silver machine, it would take Hamilton until lap 27 to replicate the move of his teammate, not before Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn made a rather stern radio call to his driver to ensure his defending didn't contravene the rules.

Button by this time had already made considerable inroads into the advantage of Alonso ahead, which was reduced even further once the duo switched to the harder medium compound tyres during their second stops on lap 33 and 34 respectively. With the Ferrari taking its time in heating up the fresh rubber, Button was quickly able to draw to the back of the scarlet car. The Brit took full advantage of a slow getaway from Rettifilo by Alonso, setting himself up for a relatively easy pass at Roggia. Once the deal was done, there was no real way back for Alonso, even after his tyres finally reached the optimum temperature.

The gap between Alonso and arch-rival Hamilton behind now stood at roughly eight seconds after the latter's drawn-out stint sat behind the slower Schumacher. Hamilton however was able to reduce this gap to less than a second as the former teammates begun their final lap. His only real chance to seize the final podium position was at the Ascari chicane, but on this occasion Hamilton decided that discretion was the better part of valour. Ahead however, Vettel continued to drive flawlessly towards an eighteenth career win, giving him an all but insurmountable championship lead of 112 points with just 150 left to play for in the remaining six rounds.

Button crossed the line in second place, drawing himself level to Webber's points tally, with Alonso's third position moving him five points clear of the beleaguered Red Bull driver. Hamilton finished the day in a somewhat disappointing fourth place, ahead of Schumacher and Massa, who had a fairly uneventful afternoon after his earlier incident with Webber. Jaime Alguersauri finished an impressive seventh place, which will no doubt help him to retain his Toro Rosso seat for next year, ahead of Force India driver Paul Di Resta and Renault's Bruno Senna, who scored his first points in ninth. The young Brazilian snatched the place away from the other Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi with six laps to go with a bold move at Rettifilo.

Pastor Maldonado wound up eleventh having held eighth position for Williams in the early going, whilst teammate Barrichello could manage no more than twelfth after being caught out in the first corner carnage. Heikki Kovalainen matched his Lotus team's best result of the season with thirteenth, ahead of teammate Jarno Trulli and Virgin's Timo Glock. Daniel Ricciardo was the final finisher for Hispania, although after suffering an early mechanical problem was fourteen laps down and thus was not classified. Gearbox failure claimed Sauber drivers Sergio Perez (whose one-stop strategy had him on course for a seventh place finish) and Kamui Kobayashi as well as the other Virgin of Jerome D'Ambrosio, whilst power steering failure brought a premature end to Adrian Sutil's race.

With the destiny of the championship crown decided, our attentions must now turn to what is shaping up to be a fine battle for second. Just fourteen points separate Alonso in second and Hamilton in fifth, meaning everything is still to play for with six rounds to go. You could argue that it's a shame that we're not experiencing the kind of nail-biting fight for the championship that we enjoyed this time last year, but there's no denying that Vettel thoroughly deserves the success that he's achieving. Quite simply, it's the best driver in the best car who is justifiably dominating this championship.

Italian Grand Prix 2011 – Qualifying Report

Sebastian Vettel defied expectations by claiming yet another pole position at the fabled Monza circuit for tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix. Commonly referred to as his Red Bull team's 'bogey' circuit, conventional logic would dictate that the high-speed nature of the Italian circuit would render the Anglo-Austrian cars less competitive than usual. However, the DRS permitted Vettel to get the maximum downforce through the slow corners without compromising the all-important straight-line speed of his Renault-powered machine. Lewis Hamilton lines up alongside the German after making a costly error in the final reckoning, ahead of McLaren teammate Jenson Button and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Q1

As is usually the case, the top teams all opted for the harder of the two Pirelli compounds in the first part of qualifying in the form of the medium compound. Button was the first of the potential pole-sitters to set a time, kicking off with a 1'24.9, enough to keep Vettel at bay by a tenth of a second. Hamilton then proceeded to up the ante by half a second to take the top spot, before Vettel shaved his best time by a whole second to take P1 away from the Brit. The McLaren drivers both persevered however, as Button came within two tenths of the championship leader, while Hamilton promptly returned himself to first place with a time a couple of hundredths of a second faster than Vettel. The best Alonso could manage was fourth place in Q1, albeit just a tenth slower than third-placed Button, whilst Mark Webber in the second Red Bull just couldn't extract as much pace from the car as Vettel, evidenced by setting only the fifth-fastest time of the session. Further down the order, it looked likely that Pastor Maldonado would be the man to join the six usual Q1 scapegoats after his Williams pirouetted into the barriers on the exit of Parabolica. As it turned out though, only the nose of the car was damaged, allowing the Venezuelan to return to the track and secure his place in Q2. Renault driver Bruno Senna looked vulnerable thereon, but the Brazilian managed to pull a substantial amount of time out of the bag when the chips were down. Late improvements from Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastien Buemi and Rubens Barrichello meant that it was Jaime Alguersauri for Toro Rosso who would begin the race in 18^th place, ahead of the usual motley selection of Lotuses, Virgins and Hispanias, although it should be noted that Daniel Ricciardo out-qualifed teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi for the first time, despite it being the home grand prix of the latter driver.

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

Q2

Button was once again the first of the big players to make his way on the track, only this time on the soft tyres. He started the bidding with a 1'23.4, which was soon bested by three tenths by Vettel. Hamilton made the unusual decision of using the medium tyres in Q2, though he was a very respectable six tenths shy of Vettel's first effort on softs, and only one tenth slower than that of Alonso. Predictably, Vettel found further room for improvement, raising the bar by an extra two tenths, which again made him quicker than teammate Webber to the tune of a full half a second. Nico Rosberg's Mercedes propelled him to an unlikely second place before improvements from the McLaren duo of Button and Hamilton, the latter equipping the soft tyres near the end of the session to assure himself of a place in Q2. With none of the Williams or Sauber drivers looking to have the required pace for Q3, it boiled down to a battle between Senna and the Force India pairing of Paul Di Resta and Adrian Sutil for the final place in Q3. Di Resta looked to have the edge for the majority of the session, but ultimately Senna pipped the Scot by a mere six thousandths of a second to join teammate Vitaly Petrov in the final qualifying session of the day.

Eliminated – Paul Di Resta (Force India), Adrian Sutil (Force India), Rubens Barrichello (Williams), Pastor Maldonado (Williams), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)

Q3

Q3 got underway as the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso left the pits in formation; being towed along by his Brazilian teammate was enough to improve Alonso's Q2 time by three tenths. To the despair of the ever-loyal tifosi however, this still made the Spaniard slower than Button, Hamilton and Vettel, whose 1'22.6 was the early benchmark. The championship leader was set to improve his time on the following tour, but pushing too hard led to a heap of oversteer through the Ascari chicane, ruining the lap. Still, his earlier time was still four tenths faster than teammate Webber's second attempt, which was only good enough for fifth place. Alonso continued to benefit from his teammate's slipstream, squeezing an extra two tenths out of the Ferrari to line up fourth, behind Hamilton and Button, whose final laps were both hampered by errors. Meanwhile, there were no such problems for Vettel, who found yet more time to take his twenty-fifth career pole position with an outstanding time of 1'22.3. Massa will line up sixth ahead of an impressive Petrov, the two Mercedes of Schumacher and Rosberg, who curiously only used the hard tyres in the final session, and Senna, who set no time at all.

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

My Prediction

With two independent DRS zones in place in tomorrow's race, it will be harder than ever for Vettel to make his trademark getaway from pole position. Barring any Spa-esque mistakes on the part of Hamilton, he is the man with whom my money lies for race-day honours:

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


Alonso should be able to make use of the DRS zones to surpass Button in order to provide a scrap of consolation for the tifosi, whilst Webber is long overdue a retirement – his comeuppance will arrive in the form of an over-exuberant Petrov as the field approaches the first chicane. Both Mercedes will make up sufficient ground to make Massa the unfortunate filling in a Mercedes sandwich, the similarly powered Force Indias will also break into the points, and Senna will put the mistakes of Spa behind him to hang on to tenth and claim his first ever point.

With the combination of KERS, DRS and slipstreaming looking to make passing a relatively easy task however, a surprise result is never out of the question at a place like Monza. Don't forget to check back tomorrow evening to read about all the action.

Calendar of Dreams

This week, the FIA announced the latest version of next year's Formula One Calendar. The latest addition, as has been known for some time, is the return of the United States Grand Prix at a brand new 'Tilkedrome' situated in the Texan city of Austin. With the current Concorde Agreement imposing a limit of twenty Grand Prix per season (a figure that would have been reached this year if not for the cancellation of the opening round at Bahrain), the Turkish Grand Prix appears to have drawn the short straw for now. This hardly comes as surprising news – spectator attendances were among the, if not the, worst seen this season at the Istanbul Park Circuit.

The exorbitant fees charged by F1's commercial rights holder (i.e. Bernie Ecclestone) means that individual circuit promoters must charge paying punters a handsome sum, often in the order of several hundred pounds, for grandstand seats. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if there are sufficient F1 fans around who are willing to pay, as is the case in places such as the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. But, countries such as Turkey, along with China, Bahrain, Korea, Abu Dhabi and India, simply don't have enough fans due to the relatively low profile of F1 in such places. None of them have any other prolific motorsport championships, and with the exception of India neither has any ever had an F1 driver to speak of.

This is where Ecclestone's tactic of simply awarding dates to the highest bidders doesn't work. While efforts to widen the audience of F1 are of course to be applauded, there are more effective ways of doing this than simply commissioning Mr. Tilke to design a circuit and have it built in a remote country whose government has no qualms in subsidising the whole thing in pursuit of global 'prestige'. Grand Prix should instead be reserved for countries whose people already have an appetite for one, which is why I believe F1 should be staying more loyal to its traditional European venues.

Over the course of the last decade, such fantastic circuits as Imola, Magny-Cours and the A1 Ring have been brushed aside to accommodate an inflated quantity of soulless Eastern circuits. So, in response to the draft 2012 calendar, which features just eight European fixtures out of twenty, I decided to pen a calendar more in keeping with F1's classic venues. Bearing in mind that two-thirds of current F1 drivers are European, my calendar boasts no less than twelve European rounds, with the remaining eight spread across each of the other five continents.

The season would begin not in Melbourne, but at the recently revamped South African circuit of Kyalami, which last hosted a grand prix back in 1993. It has a similar character to the Istanbul circuit, featuring a combination of technical sequences and flowing sections as well as plenty of elevation changes. Having declared the first winner of the season, the circus would then fly westwards to the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, which would return to an early-season slot after inexplicably being made the final round of the season in 2004. The emergence of Mexican driver Sergio Perez would then warrant a return to Mexico City, a track that hasn't been used by F1 since 1992; its long straights and banked final corner would doubtless make for some thrilling duels to entertain the newly-invigorated Mexican crowds.

The European season would be kick-started by a visit to the legendary Imola circuit, under the traditional 'San Marino Grand Prix' title, where a sell-out would be all but guaranteed by the ever-loyal tifosi. Spain's track would move from the dreary location of Catalunya to the more overtaking-friendly Jerez circuit, which is best known as the scene of Michael Schumacher's infamous attempt to barge title rival Jacques Villeneuve off the course. Needless to say, Monaco would remain on anybody's calendar; its dearth of overtaking more than made up for by its unsurpassable glamour.

Montreal never fails to entertain, thus assuring it its place on my would-be calendar as part of the North American double-header. The other half would not be the new Tilke-designed circuit in Austin but rather the street circuit in Long Beach, California. Despite losing its Grand Prix after the 1983 event, IndyCar has visited ever since. The lively atmosphere of the event combined with a variety of overtaking opportunities make it similar to Montreal – and that can only be a good thing.

The French Magny-Cours circuit would also be re-instated after the oldest Grand Prix of them all was removed from the schedule after the 2008 event. Next would come Silverstone, the undisputed home of British Motor Racing, even if I personally dislike the new track layout. This would be followed to a return to the A1 Ring, now known as the Red Bull Ring, which almost seems right given the success the eponymous team currently enjoys, though the fact Austria has given us drivers such as Jochen Rindt, Niki Lauda and Gerhard Berger in years gone by would merit it a spot on the calendar anyway.

The Nurburging is the only logical venue for the German Grand Prix after the once-great Hockenheimring was butchered by Tilke in 2002, with the Hungaroring drawing sufficient fans from all over Europe to make up for its distinct lack of overtaking opportunities. The opposite is true of Belgium's Spa, however: an absolutely outstanding circuit layout compensates its usually meagre spectator figures. Monza enjoys the best of both worlds with its famous low-downforce, high-speed racing combined with a truly passionate Italian crowd, whilst the great racing seen at the brand-new Portuguese Algarve circuit in other series makes it worth including.

A block of four 'flyaway's to finish begins with Singapore, whose enthralling night-race spectacle is enough to overcome the tiny city state's lack of motorsport heritage. Sepang would also survive the axe on the basis of a strong track layout combined with Malaysia having had an F1 driver in the past in the form of Alex Yoong, as well as a current F1 team in Team Lotus. The Japanese Grand Prix would be the penultimate round, naturally at the Suzuka circuit, the very place where the infamous Senna-Prost feud came to a head in 1989-90.

The twenty-round calendar would be rounded off by the street circuit of Adelaide, the traditional final round until its replacement by fellow Australian city Melbourne in 1996. As well as featuring the classic street-circuit combination of long straights and right-angle bends, it is, as many F1 fans know, the backdrop to Nigel Mansell's heartbreaking tyre failure that cost him the championship in 1986. And there you have it. Bernie's insatiable thirst for cash means that, for now, many of these fantastic venues will remain untouched by the F1 fraternity. Hopefully, his successor, whoever that may be, will have the sense to ensure some of these classic circuits return to where they belong – on the F1 calendar.