Canadian Grand Prix 2010

First off, sorry about 2 consecutive weekends with no posts; allow me to explain myself... The first instance once again revision for exams left me no time, and last weekend I was away enjoying some motorsport of a different kind: The legend that is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. No excuses this weekend though, and sure enough here I am.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is one of the few circuits still on the calendar that seems to have no problem, year in year out, producing a corker. 2010 was certainly no exception. It's a massive hit with teams, drivers and most importantly fans – its disappearance from last year's calendar was nothing short of travesty. The main reason that the majority of dry races this year have been a tad dull is that the longevity of the tyres hitherto allowed for very little scope to deviate from the standard 'start on options, pit when they start graining, finish on primes' strategy. As it happened though, not even the harder tyres at Canada were durable enough to allow any teams to do that, which opened up the array of strategy options us nostalgia buffs so craved for.

Qualifying was also unusual in the sense that it wasn't a Red Bull on pole position – that honour instead fell to Lewis Hamilton after a scorching lap in his McLaren-Mercedes. The usual pacesetters were thus forced to concede defeat and start from 2^nd and 3^rd positions, championship leader Mark Webber ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Fernando Alonso came next, from Jenson Button, and 6^th place deservedly went to Force India's Tonio Liuzzi. Webber however was docked 5 positions for a gearbox change, meaning it would actually be Vettel who lined up alongside Lewis on the front row. Mercedes on the other hand were strangely off the pace – Rosberg could only manage 10^th, and Schumacher failed to even make Q3 in a lowly 12^th.

Come race day, drama was unfolding even before all 24 cars passed the starting gantry. Whilst Hamilton emerged from the first 2 corners as leader from Vettel and Alonso, Liuzzi after a fine qualifying performance was tagged 3 times in one corner by the fast-starting Ferrari of Massa. The net result for the Italian was a spin which saw him fall behind everyone but Petrov and De La Rosa, who were too busy having their own accident further back. The former would continue, but the latter would not – and the Spaniard was soon to be joined on the list of retirees by teammate Kamui Kobayashi, after a tangle with Nico Hulkenberg and subsequently the dreaded 'Wall of Champions' at the end of Lap 1. This gave the Sauber team a rather unenviable finishing record of 25% for 2010.

The initial round of pitstops was passed without much incident, even if they did allow Sebastien Buemi to lead his first ever lap of an F1 race, though Red Bull elected to give their drivers differing pit strategies – Webber would run his softer tyres in the final stint, Vettel the middle. In exiting the pits himself, Schumacher displayed shades of his old self by squeezing the Renault of Robert Kubica onto the grass on the approach to turn 3 – both pilots were fortunate to not make contact or even lose any places.

Webber's strategy appeared to have been the correct one at first, but found tyre wear an increasing issue as his middle stint wore on in spite of using the harder compound tyres. Hamilton, closely shadowed by Alonso, rapidly closed the gap to the Red Bull, and with 20 laps to go, both relatively easily passed the Australian. Alonso proceeded to have an attempt to the lead of the race, but found himself baulked by backmarking traffic before Hamilton opened himself a small gap that he would maintain to the end of the race. Webber thus was forced to pit earlier than planned to make the compulsory stint on soft tyres, and exited in 5^th place, behind his teammate Vettel.

Jenson Button then suddenly found a late turn of speed with which he surprisingly effortlessly dispatched Alonso, before making serious headway into his fellow McLaren driver's lead. He was able to narrow the margin to just 2 seconds with 10 laps to go, but Hamilton duly responded and the gap remained constant until the end of the race. Thus McLaren scored their second one-two finish in as many races, with Hamilton's erstwhile arch-rival Alonso completing the podium some 7 seconds behind Button. Vettel nursed an alleged gearbox issue home to claim a somewhat lacklustre 4^th, ahead of the man who was usurped from the championship lead – Mark Webber.

The top 10 were completed by Rosberg, Kubica, an impressive Buemi, and the Force Indias of Sutil and Liuzzi who had both passed the ailing Schumacher on the final lap. The 91-time victor simply couldn't find any grip with which to fend off the duo, and was left with nil point to reflect on what Martin Brundle described as the 'worst weekend of his career'. Uncharacteristically for the circuit, the rate of attrition was remarkably low – the lowest all season in fact. Only Glock, Trulli and Senna failed to finish along with the luckless Saubers, and all with mechanical issues. Perhaps even more astonishing was the notable absence of the safety car all race long.

So, with two back-to-back wins firmly under his belt, Lewis Hamilton has retaken the championship lead by just 3 points from Jenson Button, and 6 from Mark Webber. Chuck in Mr. Alonso and Mr. Vettel who are just another 9 and 13 points back respectively, and the fact we still have 11 grand prix left to run, along with major updates packages for all 3 major teams in the next two races, and there's no doubt that this championship is well and truly wide open.

 

Turkish Grand Prix 2010

First off, I apologise for the lack of a post last weekend. Revision for AS exams was taking over somewhat, but never fear: I'm back.

As I write this, I'm listening to a spot of Fleetwood Mac. The lyric of this particular song is rather relevant to today's on-track action at Istanbul Park – 'I know I can't lose, as long as you follow'. If Sebastian Vettel had taken that particular piece of advice, it's more than likely that his Red Bull stable-mate Mark Webber would have taken his 3^rd successive victory. However, the German decided to take the risk of trying to pass his teammate for the lead, which in this particular instance went horribly wrong. The resulting collision left the door wide open for Lewis Hamilton to take a very much overdue first win of the season from his own McLaren teammate Jenson Button, but even before that point a big question mark had been placed over the alleged superiority of the Red Bull package.

The Anglo-Austrian cars, whilst maintaining their season-long monopoly on pole position, failed to secure the front row as they had done so emphatically at China and Spain – Hamilton was able to sneak his McLaren into 2^nd position on the grid, with Button not far behind Vettel after qualifying a place behind the German in 4^th. The Mercedes cars of Schumacher and Rosberg had the 3^rd row sown up between them, whilst Ferrari were disappointing to say the least with 8^th and 12^th places – Alonso made another critical error in qualifying which ruined his chance of making Q3.

Still, having failed to qualify 1-2, the Red Bulls were able to get into that position before Turn 1, with Hamilton and Button both having lost a place each from the start thanks to grid slots on the dirtier side of the grid. Despite that, before the end of the lap both Britons were able to regain their lost positions from German superstars Vettel and Schumacher respectively. So, by the end of the first lap, and indeed right until the pitstops, the order was Webber, Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Schumacher and Rosberg, albeit with Hamilton having taken several abortive attempts to take the lead at turn 12.

The first of the leaders to lap was Vettel on lap 15, followed by Webber and Hamilton simultaneously one lap later. The McLaren pilot was delayed momentarily by Webber passing his pit box as he left the pit, costing him sufficient time to fall back to 3^rd place. Button meanwhile left his stop until lap 18, and despite closing up to the lead trio, was unable to gain any places. Behind the lead quartet, Schumacher had by now driven clear of his teammate Rosberg, who headed up a train consisting of himself, Kubica, Massa, an impressive Petrov and Alonso who had clawed his way back to 10^th after a shaky start, battling with the somewhat revitalised Sauber cars of Kobayashi and De La Rosa.

At the front, as the laps wore on it became clear that race leader Webber was in fact the slowest of the 4 lead cars. By Lap 40, Vettel was hounding his teammate hard for the lead of the race with the threat of rain showers looming large. On Lap 41, the German hotshoe lined himself up for a pass on the easy-going Aussie. Down the back straight leading up towards turn 12, Vettel darted left of Webber who was already clearly on the defensive. As he tried to move back onto the racing line, thinking by this point he'd cleared the No.6 Red Bull, there was contact. Both cars were spat out into the tarmac runoff at turn 12, with Vettel out on the spot with rear suspension damage, but with Webber able to continue with a damaged front wing that required an extra pitstop.

That cleared the way for battle royale to commence between messers Hamilton and Button, and commence it did. On Lap 48, Button went for a bold move around the outside of 2008 champion at passing place of choice Turn 12, but Hamilton cleverly fought back with a finer run onto the pit straight to take the lead back at Turn 1, the pairing getting oh-so-close to repeating the unfortunate fate of the Red Bull pairing. Alas, the racing was clean, and after that brief but heart-stopping tussle, Button fell back concerned with saving fuel. That wasn't the only skirmish going on in the field however – a small touch between Alonso and Petrov gave the former 8^th place and the latter a puncture and thus the need for an extra spot, and further behind, the two Saubers continued to dice for the final point for 10^th place.

With Button gradually falling back, Hamilton cruised home for his first win of the season, and McLaren's second 1-2 of the year was affirmed by the reigning champion finishing in second place. Webber, having amassed a 32-second advantage over Schumacher prior to his tangle with Vettel, was able to hold onto 3^rd place despite the need for an extra trip to the pits. Schumacher was able to cement his supremacy over Rosberg for the weekend by finishing ahead of him in 4^th place, whilst Kubica held off the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso to take another solid result for Renault. Sutil trundled to the flag to take another 2 points for 9^th, whilst Sauber scored their first point of the season at last courtesy of Kamui Kobayashi.

Despite being understandably sombre in the driver's press conference, Webber still in fact leads the way for points narrowly from Button and Hamilton who leaps up to 3^rd from 7^th in the standings. The real question though is would the Red Bull duo have been able to hold on had it not been for their clash? Nobody will know for sure, but it's clear now that Christian Horner's squad can certainly no longer afford to rest on its laurels – McLaren now loom large.

Monaco Grand Prix 2010

The Monaco Grand Prix is the race that every driver wants to win. Today, a new driver joined the illustrious list of winners at the principality that boasts such greats as Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and six-time victor Ayrton Senna. The driver in question – a certain Mr. Webber. Off the back of a dominant Spanish win, the pressure was on the amicable Aussie as to whether or not he could maintain such blistering form: the answer he provided was very much in the affirmative.

Webber was able to lay the foundations for his convincing win with an equally convincing pole position. Unlike last time out though, Vettel could only manage third, with an incredible performance from Renault’s Robert Kubica splitting the navy-blue cars. Massa did well to join the German on row 2, but his teammate Alonso was less fortunate. The double Monaco winner binned it at Massenet corner in Saturday practice, causing damage impossible to repair in time for Q1. Thus, he was demoted right to the back of the grid, forced to start the race from the pitlane.

As the pack got away, both Red Bull cars made fine getaways, with Webber leading as expected and Vettel getting the better of the slower-starting Kubica for 2^nd. Hamilton had a look up the inside of the Pole after a quick start, but thought better of it, remaining in 5^th place behind Massa’s Ferrari. A lap later, the first of a grand total of 4 safety cars made its first appearance, as a result of a tangle with the wall in the tunnel for Nico Hulkenberg on lap 1. The Mercedes SLS led the pack as the cars began lap 2, with the order being Webber, Vettel, Kubica, Massa, Hamilton, a creditworthy 6^th for Barrichello, ahead of the 2 Mercedes cars of Schumacher and Rosberg. Jenson Button had made a rotten start to find himself 11^th come the end of the first lap, but that mattered little as he retired soon after anyway. An almighty gaffe by his team meant his side-pod protector wasn’t removed before the start of the installation lap, causing lasting damage to the engine that meant it gave up the ghost behind the safety car.

Alonso, still right near the back of the pack at this point, took the opportunity to pit, getting the obligatory but less durable super-soft compound tyres out of the way. He then proceeded to carve his way back through the pack, making short work of Chandhok’s Hispania to begin with. However, Lucas di Grassi proved somewhat less compliant. Alonso spent 4 frustrated laps behind the rookie before sending one up the inside at the Nouvelle Chicane, gifted an opportunity thanks to the Virgin driver getting a poor exit out of the tunnel. With the Brazilian disposed of, Alonso repeated the precise same move on the other new-car drivers of Trulli, Glock and Kovalainen.

Back to the pointy end of the field, the positions remained unchanged as Hamilton became the first of the leading group to change his tyres, resuming just ahead of Alonso. Massa followed suit 2 laps later, rejoining the track just ahead of the Brit. Despite having a clear track for a while, Rosberg too continued after his stop in the same position, albeit now behind Alonso, who having pitted early had leapt ahead of a copious volume of cars to reach 6^th. The leading trio then pitted a few laps later, their positions remaining unchanged.

With Webber still firmly in charge, the safety car made its second visit, this time courtesy of the other Williams of Barrichello, who had fallen to 11^th at the stops. The veteran suffered suspension failure that pitched him firmly into the crash barriers at Massenet. At the restart, the order remained Webber from Vettel, Kubica, Massa, Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher and Rosberg, with both Force India cars of Sutil and Liuzzi running inside the top 10 as well. A suspected loose drain cover was the cause for safety car no.3, whilst a hair-raising collision between the Lotus of former Monaco winner Trulli and Monaco debutant Chandhok at the Rascasse caused the fourth and final one, with no real action to speak of during the 30 laps between the two.

With just 3 laps to go, and a lot of debris to clear, we all thought the positions were set. How wrong we were. The safety car pulled in to the pits at the end of the final lap, and with this year’s new rules stipulating that overtaking is permitted after the safety car line (just after the exit of the Rascasse and before the final corner of Anthony Nogues), there was scope for overtaking yet. One man seized that opportunity: Michael Schumacher. Alonso, who he was running just behind, got an arm full of oversteer as he left the Rascasse, leaving the door wide open for the 7-time champion to cheekily, but legally, pinch 6^th place at the very last minute.

Those technicalities however did nothing to detract from another stellar performance from Webber. With a second commanding win in as many times of asking, he rockets to the top of the championship standings, joined by teammate Vettel on an identical amount of points, but ahead on virtue of 2 wins to the German’s 1. If you’d had told Alonso at the start of the race he would have been just 5 points adrift of the championship lead by the end of it, he’d have bitten your arm off. Yet that’s precisely what happened, and Jenson Button can’t have been disappointed at remaining only 8 off the lead after a disastrous race.

As with most Monaco Grand Prix, this one won’t be remembered for sheer action. But like Spain, it will go down as another utterly flawless performance from Mark Webber – The opposition, not least of all Vettel, must be beginning to feel rather nervous for their own chances if he is able to maintain that kind of form.

Edit: Michael Schumacher's move on Alonso for 6th was deemed illegal by the stewards, and thus earned him a 20-second timed penalty which dropped him to 12th place. Buemi moves up to claim the final point for 10th. This decision is subject to appeal by Mercedes GP.