Schumacher Returns - It's Official

Mercedes Benz World - Brooklands

It has been a busy week for Mercedes F1...

Further to earlier speculation, on Wednesday 23rd December, the team officially announced that seven time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher will race for them alongside fellow German Nico Rosberg in 2010.

Schumacher, ever confident, has already set his sights on an unprecedented eighth World title which he believes to be achievable despite his age and three year absence from the sport.

He is basing this assumption on the fact the Brawn GP (now Mercedes) Team produced the Championship winning car and driver in 2009.

As I have stated in this blog on a number of occasions, I believe that Brawn were afforded an early season advantage in 2009 over their rivals due to their clever interpretation of the technical rules regarding the use of a double diffuser.

By the time the other teams had modified their cars, Brawn had the Championship effectively sewn up.

It is highly unlikely, in my opinion, that the Brawn/Mercedes team will be afforded the same head start in 2010 and therefore it follows, that Schumacher will not have an open road to the Championship.

I do believe 2010 will be a very tight season with several teams and drivers in the hunt for Constructors and Drivers Championships.

Massa and Alonso at Ferrari will be fun to watch taking points from each other - and, I expect, squabbling throughout the season.

I have a good feeling about Hamilton at McLaren - provided the team can produce a decent car. I believe Button will struggle with a top class team mate coupled with an unfamilar car and team organisation.

If Red Bull can continue to develop their car, Vettel will definitely be another Championship contender. I would like to include Mark Webber in the list of possible Champions but fear he will continue to be dogged with the bad luck that has plagued his career to date.

In addition to the news of Michael Schumacher's impending return to F1, Mercedes have also signed a title sponsorship agreement with Malaysian oil giant Petronas, much to the chagrin of Lotus F1 who had hoped to do the deal themselves.

My friend Himmat Singh in Malaysia has written an interesting post on his blog from a local perspective about the Petronas/Mercedes link up and it's implications for Lotus.

If you'd like to read it, please click here.

How do you think Michael Schumacher will fair in 2010? Will he still be competitive or just make up the numbers?

Why not leave a comment? They are always very welcome.

F1 Must Get Back To Basics

Regular readers may have noticed that I have not been posting much lately....

To be honest, I have to admit that I have not been greatly enthused by the goings on in F1 at the tail end of the season which ended with a whimper.

Barrichello had his usual luck at the Brazilian Grand Prix, a puncture putting paid to his title challenge and handing the Championship to Brawn team mate Jenson Button.

The F1 show moved on to the new venue at Abu Dhabi.

With nothing much left to race for, both the drivers and constructors Championships having been settled in Brazil, I did not have great expectations....

Ecclestone, the BBC F1 commentary team, the drivers, in fact it seemed like everyone and his aunt was trotted out to twitter on about the lovely job that had been done on the circuit facilities and how much had been spent, how wonderful it all was - blah blah blah.

What we ended up with was (yet) another boring, processional race.

Call me old fashioned but F1 can do without all the window dressing.

People who attend a Grand Prix want to see RACING - i.e. overtaking, action, entertainment, excitement - NOT lovely hotels they can't afford to stay in!

When I say people I am of course referring to the ones who actually pay for a ticket with their own hard earned cash and are genuine followers of the sport.

I don't mean the ones who are given a freebie ticket, are plied with free grub and booze and haven't got the slightest clue or interest as to what is going on trackside.

Unfortunately it seems that Ecclestone is intent on putting more Abu Dhabi/Valencia type yawnfest races on the calendar in the future at the expense of traditional racing circuits.

Take for example the way he is handling the British GP (or possibly lack of it) for 2010.

It's a disgrace.

Not content with practically bankrupting Donington with his contract terms he is now trying to push Silverstone into accepting one which would also be financially unviable.

If Donington can't make money in the current economic climate at those terms, how does he expect Silverstone to do so?

His answer (as usual) - take it or leave it - we don't need a British GP when there are umpteen other venues around the world begging to host a GP willing to pay what we demand.

Well I'm sorry mate, yes we do!

The British GP must not be sacrificed to satisfy the money lust of one greedy aged parasite!

Button Wins Again in Turkey - Is the Season Over Already?

Jenson Button continued his winning streak at the Turkish Grand Prix last weekend making it six wins out of seven.

The race was effectively done and dusted before the first lap had been completed.

Vettel who had qualified on pole went wide whilst pushing hard enabling Button to slip through.

From then on it was game over. Nobody had the pace to keep up with Button. His team mate Barrichello who had in qualified third, suffered clutch problems and had a terrible start off the line dropping more or less to the back of the field before eventually retiring from the race. This was Brawn GP's first retirement of the season.

It was a dissapointing race for Vettel in the end. He finished on the third step of the podium behind his team mate Webber.

Webber had driven very well throughout the race to a highly deserved second place. He is now fourth place in the drivers Championship only 1.5 points behind Vettel. The two Brawn GP drivers, however, are pole apart. Button is now leading the Championship over Barrichello by a massive 26 points.

Whilst I would dearly love to have a British F1 World Champion again at the end of this season, I would like to see Jenson closely challenged as Hamilton was last year.

Unless the other teams step up to the plate in the next couple of races it will be fait accomplit.

I am still sticking to my prediction that Barrichello will show some form at Silverstone and finally make some inroads into Button's seemingly unassailable lead.

Jenson Button Makes It Five Wins out of Six in Monaco

Jenson Button has continued his winning streak by taking a lights to flag victory at the Monaco GP. He has now won five of the six Grand Prix so far this year.

Although it may sound churlish and unpatriotic, the season is in danger of going stale (as it often did in the Schumacher era) if one driver continues to dominate.

I am hoping that one or (preferably) more of the other drivers, maybe Vettel or Barrichello or even Mark Webber, will snatch a victory or JB will encounter some unreliability to even out the playing field and spice things up a bit.

Compare the 2009 F1 season - two different winners to date - with this year's BTCC season - seven different winners in seven races.

Going back to the Monaco GP..... Button's Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello came second and in third place, scoring Ferrari's only podium finish to date, was Kimi Raikkonen.

The Ferraris do finally seem to have picked up a bit of pace after their worst season start for decades.

Vettel Takes Red Bull Racing's First Ever Pole Position

Sebastian Vettel has taken Red Bull Racing's first ever pole position for tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix and furthermore it was taken in impressive, dare we say it, Schumacheresque style.

Due to a driveshaft gremlin which had cropped up earlier in the day, Vettel was only able to make single runs during all three qualifying sessions and pulled the pole lap out of the bag despite being under extreme pressure.

L2F cannot help but be impressed by the way young Vettel has found his feet in F1 and believes he will be a serious contender for many years to come. Another Schumacher perhaps? He has the skill but fortunately not the arrogant streak.

Second place on the grid goes to a light fuelled Alonso (despite Briatore's bellyaching about diffusers....)

Third place to Vettel's team mate Mark Webber in the sister Red Bull. All in all a great performance for the team so far this weekend.

Barrichello and Button for Brawn GP will occupy fourth and fifth on the grid respectively with Toyota's Jarno Trulli in sixth.

For full details of the qualifying positions please visit the L2F web site!

Chinese Grand Prix Pre Race Update

The main news today is the departure of Ron Dennis from the McLaren F1 team.

It would appear that Dennis may have fallen on his sword following the Lewis Hamilton "cheating" scandal at the season opening Australian GP last month.

Dennis who has been involved with Formula 1 for the last 43 years will now concentrate on McLaren's sports car business.

Diffuser Row - After the FIA ruling earlier this week in favour of Brawn Gp, Toyota and Williams, we understand that McLaren and Renault will be running revised diffusers on their cars in China this weekend. It remains to see how they will fare in qualifying and the race.

KERS - after experiencing unreliability problems in Australia and Malaysia, Ferrari have decided not to run with KERS at the Chinese GP.

FIA Diffuser Row Settled in Favour of Brawn, Toyota & Williams

Following a prolonged hearing yesterday, the FIA International Court of Appeal has ruled that the diffusers used by the cars of the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams are indeed legal.

A statement from the FIA read: "The FIA International Court of Appeal has decided to deny the appeals submitted against decisions taken by the Panel of the Stewards on March 26 at the Australian Grand Prix and counting towards the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship"

"Based on the arguments heard and evidence before it, the court concluded that the stewards were correct to find that the cars in question comply with the applicable regulations".

The decision leaves Brawn, Toyota and Williams free to race in this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, and Jensen Button leading the championship table after the first two races of the 2009 season.

The remaining teams will now have no option but to rapidly redesign their cars to keep up.