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!

Barrichello Takes the Championship Fight to Button

Photo by S G Mendez

Rubens Barrichello has taken the 2009 F1 Championship fight to Jenson Button by landing pole position for tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

Button meanwhile made a hash of qualifying by failing to change to the intermediate tyre at the right point and remaining on full wets. He qualified fourteenth.

The third Championship protaganist Sebastian Vettel fell at the first hurdle by failing to progress from Q1 in a heavily rain affected qualifying "hour" which, due to various red flags, dragged on for nearly three hours. He starts fifteenth on the gird - directly behind Button.

Unfortunately the delayed coverage meant that those of us watching on the BBC had to endure Jake (the Plank) Humphrey asking numerous mind numbingly inane questions to pad out the time waiting for the qualifying sessions to restart.

At least today he managed to refrain from incessantly referring to David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan as DC and EJ - one of my pet hates - aaaarggghhh

It's almost enough for me to want the BBC to start showing adverts!

Putting my latest BBC F1 commentary rant to one side, it now appears that the Championship is a straight two horse race between Button and Barrichello - barring any miracle from Vettel tomorrow.

I still believe that Button will take the Championship but not until Abu Dhabi and with a whimper rather than a bang.

Call me unpatriotic but I'm afraid I do not class Button as a driver in the same league as the likes of Lewis Hamilton or Kimi Raikkonen.

The Championship was virtually gifted to him by dint of the fact the Brawn car in the first half of the season, due to their clever interpretation of the rules, was streets ahead of the opposition.

At the same time any misfortunes to the Brawn Team seemed to fall in the lap of Rubens Barrichello.

In the second half of the season the other teams have improved their cars, in particular Red Bull and McLaren and since that point Button has not had the sniff of a victory and has played safe.

If he remains with Brawn next year, as is expected, and their car is on a parr with the McLarens, Ferraris etc it will be interesting to see how he fairs on a level playing field - if I would hazard a guess, not too well.

The race tomorrow holds a lot of promise and could be a classic (maybe too much to hope!).

It will be great to see Vettel going for it from the back - after all he has nothing to lose. Button will need to try and keep himself out of trouble and avoid a DNF.

At the front Barrichello and Webber (P2) will both be desparate to win. Barrichello to keep his Championship hopes alive and Webber to prove to his doubters that he can get the job done.

Others to look out for in my opinion are Sutil who took an impressive P3 for Force India and Kimi Raikkonen in P5.

If it rains again during the race Sutil is definitely in with a shout for a podium finish.

Other posts you may like....

Button Wins at Spanish GP Barrichello Spits the Dummy!

Jenson Button Makes it Five Wins Out of Six

Button Wins again in Turkey. Is the Season Over?

Belgian Grand Prix - Fisichella takes first pole for Force India

Picture by Eugene Flores

Veteran Italian F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella has claimed a shock pole position for tomorrow's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa which promises to be a classic (at least compared to last weeks run round the "Tesco car park" as Mark Webber described it!).

Fisichella's pole, the first ever for the Force India team, was gained in dry conditions so could not be put down to inclement weather and was therefore on merit. After fuel correction he would have been fourth - still an excellent achievement.

The Force India cars were consistently fast in all three qualifying sessions today.

After a poor showing in Valencia, the Toyota and BMW teams each qualified both of their cars in the top ten. Trulli (Toyota) is second on the grid with his team mate Glock seventh. Heidfeld is a season's best third for BMW with his team mate Kubica fifth.

On the other end of the scale Luca Badoer put in another lacklustre performance in what could/should be his last qualifying session for Ferrari. He spun off the track and will start plum last - again.

Jenson Button's title push was dealt another blow. He qualified in fourteenth on the grid whilst his team mate Barrichello, still on a high following victory in Valencia last weekend, was fourth. Button was some 0.4 seconds slower than his team mate.

I can see Button being overhauled in the Championship before the end of the season. He has been mediocre in the last few races and does not seem to be holding up to the pressure.

At the beginning of the season, the Brawn car was without doubt the best in the field, especially in the hands of Button.

Since then, the likes of Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have gradually caught up and now there is little to chose between them at most circuits.

At the same time, Barrichello has raised his game perhaps realising that at this stage of his career this could be his last tilt at the driver's Championship. His issues with the Brawn team earlier in the season now seem to have been ironed out.

When everything is going swimmingly Button is fine. As soon as things start to get difficult he seems to lose the plot and his head goes down.

The Red Bull's were having a poor day by their standards. Vettel qualified eighth after making a mistake and Webber ninth. Rosberg for Williams struggled into tenth but is fueled heavier than the other top runners.

I have not mentioned Kimi Raikkonen so far. Although he qualified sixth he is definitely a possible contender for the victory tomorrow. He will have the benefit of KERS so should make up a few places off the start. He also has a string of Spa victories under his belt.

Others to watch will be Trulli and Barrichello. Having said that, if the weather changes, as it often does without warning at Spa, anything could happen!

F1 - Schumacher Returns - Piquet Out

Despite Michael Schumacher's manager stating last week that he was "200% sure" Schumacher would not replace the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari, he has now been confirmed through to the end of the season!

Ferrari have thrown a hissy fit earlier this week (as they usually do when things don't go their way.....).

They had requested dispensation from the FIA and other F1 teams to allow Schumacher to test the 2009 Ferrari due to the in season test ban. This request was turned down flat by Williams, Toro Rosso and Red Bull in case it set a precedent. A tad harsh maybe but after all, rules is rules as they say.

I have a gut feeling that Schumacher could win a race later this year. If I was a gambling man my money would be on Abu Dhabi. Here's why -

1. It is the last race by which time he should be back in the swing and fully up to speed with the car

2. Ferrari will no doubt have made further developments to the car throughout the remaining races

3. It is a new circuit for all the drivers making it a level playing field

What do you think? Your comments are always welcome.

Meanwhile over at Renault, Nelson Piquet Junior has been shown the exit door - not unexpected.

Yet another in a long line of victims of the perma tanned Lothario.

He has already been replaced by rookie Romain Grosjean who was Renault's official third driver.

I cannot see that he will do any better than Piquet managed when all the team's resources are directed at Alonso.

I think it was a mistake for Piquet to join the Renault team in the first place although it is completely understandable that he would see it as an immediate move into one of the top teams at the time.

He may have been better advised to take the traditional route and join a team lower down the grid for a couple of seasons and then move up to better things (like Alonso for example).

Briatore is notoriously difficult to work with and it became quite quickly apparent that Piquet was not feeling the love!

Jenson Button had a similar miserable time at Renault but since leaving his career has flourished.

Piquet is not a shabby driver by a long chalk - at the inaugaral A1 GP meeting at Brands Hatch he wiped the floor with everybody (including some ex F1 drivers), winning both the sprint and feature races by some margin.

I really hope that he will get a chance to find another berth in F1, perhaps with one of the new teams and prove his true potential.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than seeing Briatore made to look a twat once more!

Photos thanks to - Schumigirl1956 & Ann64

Lewis Hamilton Takes Hungarian GP Victory

Pic by Eugene Flores

Lewis Hamilton returned to winning ways in style at the Hungaroring taking his first victory of the season.

Hamilton started from fourth on the grid but quickly managed to overhaul the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel off the line and Mark Webber a few laps later thanks partly to the KERS fitted to his McLaren.

Fernando Alonso scampered off from pole but had to make an earlypit stop as his car had been fuelled much lighter than Hamilton and the Red Bulls.

At the pit stop, Renault failed to secure the right front wheel of Alonso's car which subsequently detached bouncing down the track. Fortunately no repeat of the Henry Surtess tragedy at Brands Hatch the week before.


Alonso crawled back to the pits on three wheels andlater into retirement. Hamilton took over the lead and from that point on controlled the race to the chequered flag.

Sebastian Vettel also retired from the race following suspension damage caused to his car off the start by Raikkonen.

Kimi Raikkonen got off to a flyer, again thanks to KERS, and maintained good pace throughout the race. The Ferrari like the McLaren is steadily improving race by race putting further pressure on Jenson Button and the Brawn team.

Raikkonen was able to work his way to a second place finish in front of Mark Webber who has now leap frogged Vettel into second place in the driver's Championship.

Nico Rosberg continued his good form and finished in fourth. Unlike earlier in the season, Rosberg's Williams is able to remain consistent throughout a whole weekend and not just during Friday free practice.

Hamilton's team mate Kovalainen took fifth place giving McLaren a welcome double points finish. They are optimistic this form will continue at the next race in Valencia.

The two Toyotas of Glock and Trulli finished sixth and eighth respectively.

Jenson Button's grip on the driver's Championship continues to slip. He could only manage a seventh place finish and two points. Fortunately for him, due to Vettel's earlier retirement the damage to his lead was limited.

On the current trend I can see Brawn failing to win both the constructors and the driver's Championships.

POST RACE UPDATE

Following the incident with Alonso's wheel, Renault have received a one race suspension from the stewards and will therefore not be able to compete in Valencia. Renault have already lodged an appeal.

Massa's condition is said to be no longer life threatening and he is conscious and talking to members of his family.

It is almost certain he will not be able to compete for the rest of the season and there is even a suggestion that he has a problem with his left eye that could permanently curtail his F1 career.

Let's hope it is not that serious and he is back in the Ferrari next year.

Speculation is rife as to who will replace Massa at Ferrari until the end of the season.

One name being touted is 40 year old Michael Schumacher who still has an advisory role at Ferrari.

Although not a fan of Michael Schumacher's antics on track during the course of his F1 career (e.g. parking on the corner at Monaco), if he were to come back Mansellesque style it would certainly bring some welcome added spice to the remainder of the season.

German Grand Prix - Webber takes first F1 career victory

Mark Webber completed a perfect weekend at the Nurburgring this afternoon with a stunning drive to victory - the first of his F1 career - despite being handed a harsh drive through penalty after a slight coming together with Rubens Barrichello off the start.

When the penalty was handed out I honestly thought that would be it for Webber's chances and the end of what could have been potentially an exciting race. Once again the hierrarchy would have conspired to remove any ounce of entertainment from the proceedings.

Fortunately Webber was so focused he was able to outclass the whole field today including his much lauded team mate (even by me in previous posts!) Sebastian Vettel who finished second completing another Red Bull Racing one-two.

Felipe Massa finished third his best result of the season. Rosberg of Williams drove a solid race to fourth despite qualifying poorly on Saturday.

The two Brawn's of Button and Barrichello finished fifth and sixth respectively due to tyre issues and, in the case of Barrichello, issues in the pits (fuel rig problem).

Barrichello who qualified second on the grid had managed to get the jump on Mark Webber at the start but later got held up behind Kovaleinen and later Massa.

Alonso had a good run towards the end of the race clocking up fastest laps and managed to take seventh place. The top eight was rounded out by Kovaleinen.

Lewis Hamilton had rocketed off the grid from P5 into the lead (making full use of the KERS) but managed to clip Mark Webber causing a puncture which effectively ended his afternoon. Hamilton ended taking the wooden spoon.

The Red Bull Racing star definitely seems to be in the ascendant this half of the season.

The same cannot be said from Brawn GP. Following their blistering start a few cracks (or should that be chasms?) are starting to appear. As mentioned in our post yesterday, Button's body language at the press conference was all telling. The Brawn car was totally outclassed by Red Bull this weekend.

Following the race, Barrichello spat the dummy (once again) in an angry TV interview shown on the BBC coverage implying that the team lost the race and that he had done all that was necessary to win it.

To compound matters, Barrichello once again found himself finishing behind Button after the final round of pitstops when he had been in front beforehand. No doubt he has in mind the situation at Ferrari where he played Patsy to Schumacher.

He was probably unaware of the fuel rig issue at the time of the interview and will no doubt get slapped down by Ross Brawn and told his fortune!

To rub salt in the wounds, there is a strong rumour that Virgin will not be sponsoring the team next season and instead will be supporting newcomers Manor F1.

New parts are expected for the Brawn car at the next race in Hungary but will it be enough to hold off the resurgent Red Bulls?

German Grand Prix - Mark Webber Takes First F1 Career Pole

Aussie Mark Webber took his first F1 career pole position at a rain affected qualifying session at the Nurburgring yesterday afternoon with a blistering lap in difficult conditions.

It transpires that this pole position was fully merited as his car is fueled heavier than his nearest rivals on the grid.

Rubens Barrichello made a good tactical choice of tyre and was able to take second slot on the grid behind Webber but in front of his team mate and Championship leader Jenson Button in third.

At the press conference, Webber (obviously) and Barrichello seemed very pleased with their performance whilst Button's body language told a different story. It doesn't look like he will have an easy ride during the race today.

The Red Bulls appear to have the edge over the Brawns this weekend. On top of that, with more changeable weather forecast for the race, Barrichello and Vettel are ones to watch out for.

Talking of Vettel, he qualified fourth to the disappointment of the German crowd, but when fuel load is taken into account he would have been only 0.25 seconds behind Webber in P2.

The McLaren team appear to have pulled out all the stops to make some major improvements to their performance this weekend. New aero parts have been fitted to Lewis Hamilton's car giving around 0.7 seconds per lap improvement.

Hamilton qualified fifth and could be on for a podium finish especially if the weather comes into play. Heikki Kovalainen qualified sixth despite the new parts only being fitted to Hamilton's car but will probably drop back during the race.

The other star of qualifying (apart from Mark Webber) was Adrian Sutil who guided his Force India into P7. The highest ever qualifying slot for the team. Again the position was fully merited when fuel adjusted. Could Force India be on for their first points of the season?

The two Ferraris of Massa and Rakkonen qualified eighth and ninth respectively whilst Nelson Piquet rounded out the top ten outqualifying his team mate Alonso.

Hopefully Webber and Barrichello can both outscore their respective team mates this weekend to add some well needed spice to this season's Championship.

All will be revealed later today.

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.

Turkish GP - Vettel Takes Pole

Red Bull Racing's 21 year old wunderkind Sebastian Vettel has snatched pole position for tomorrow's F1 Turkish Grand Prix in the dying seconds of Q3 (as predicted in this blog!).

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello of Brawn GP had to settle for second and third on the grid respectively.

Vettel's team mate Mark Webber has qualified fourth and, in a much improved performance for Toyota, Jarno Trulli was fifth fastest.

The two Ferraris of Raikkonen and Massa are sixth and seventh, Fernando Alonso (Renault) is eighth, Rosberg (Williams) ninth and Robert Kubica of BMW tenth.

The BMW's are showing some improvement in form compared to recent Grand Prix with Heidfeld one spot behind Kubica in eleventh.

McLaren are having (yet) another dismal weekend. Lewis Hamilton was dumped out of Q1 and qualified a terrible sixteenth. His team mate Kovalainen, despite topping the time sheets in second practice on Friday, fared little better with fourteenth spot on the grid. McLaren are hoping to rush through new parts in time for Silverstone but whether that will make a lot of difference remains to be seen.

Force India driver Adrian Sutil qualified a very creditable fifteenth.

The top seven runners were separated by barely half a second and with a tricky circuit to navigate (practically every driver has had an off this weekend so far), it promises to be an exciting race tomorrow.

Our podium prediction - Vettel to win, Button second, Massa third.

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.

Button wins at Spanish GP - Barrichello Spits the Dummy!

Britain's Jenson Button drove his way to victory number four of the 2009 F1 season at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday beating his Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello into second place.

Barrichello had outpaced and passed Button at the start of the race to take the lead and on his planned three stop strategy should have won the race. During the race Brawn GP decided to switch Button from three stop to a two stop strategy enabling him to take the victory.

On the BBC F1 coverage you could clearly see Barrichello was bemused to find himself in second place when he clearly thought the win had been in his grasp.

Post race Barrichello was quoted as saying he would "hang up his helmet" immediately if he had any suspicion that Ross Brawn was favouring Button. Brawn has denied showing any favour to either of his two drivers.

It must seem like deja vu to Barrichello after playing Patsy to Michael Schumacher for all those years at Ferrari - same team boss - same scenario - just a smaller pay packet!

L2F's view is that Rubens is being paranoid. Ross Brawn has been around too long to put all his eggs in one basket when there are still twelve races left to run.

Button is clearly on a roll at the moment but cast your mind back to earlier in his career when things weren't running so smoothly for him - for example his time at Renault when the perma tanned one had to give him the hurry up or the is he going to Williams or isn't he debacle.

A few DNF's here and there or a slip up or two for Button and Barrichello could still have his day. They should both keep an eye on young Vettel of Red Bull too.

By the way L2F tip - Barrichello for victory at Silverstone.......

Vettel Takes Red Bull's First GP Victory in China

Sebastian Vettel converted Red Bull's maiden pole position into it's first Grand Prix victory in China on Sunday.

Vettel drove an excellent race in appalling wet conditions and was followed home by his team mate Mark Webber - no doubt disappointed not to have been Red Bull's first GP winner himself.

Jenson Button claimed the third step on the podium cementing his lead at the top of the 2009 driver's championship.

For our full race report please visit the L2F web site now.