Formula 1 2010 Season Summary Two

Here are some of the stats I have collected over 2010:

Qualifying Stats
The best qualifiers were Sebastian Vettel with an average position of second, and Mark Webber with an average position of 2.5.
The worst were Karun Chandhok on an average of 23.4, and Sakon Yamamoto on 22.9. I wonder if either would have had a better average if they'd been allowed to race more?
The best driver at outqualifying his teammate is Robert Kubica, who has started ahead of Vitaly Petrov seventeen times in 2010.
The worst is thus Petrov in percentage terms, but in their fewer races Yamamoto and Nick Heidfeld have each only won the qualifying battle once.

Race Stats
Obviously Vettel had the best results, with his winning the championship. However, Fernando Alonso has the best average finish on 5.1, with Webber second on 5.6 and Vettel third on 5.9.
The worst finishers were Christian Klien with an average of 21, Lucas Di Grassi on 18.4, and Jarno Trulli on 18.2. This is rather surprising, but Trulli has had a lot of bad finishes and retirements in 2010.
The best driver for retirements in-race is Felipe Massa, with only one race retirement in the nineteen. Yamamoto, Klien and Heidfeld have also had only one retirement each, but over fewer races.
The worst driver for retirements is Trulli, who has only finished eight of the races this year. He did not even start in Australia.
Team-wise, the best for retirements has been Ferrari. Despite unreliability in practice and qualifying, they have only had three DNFs all year. One was for Massa, and two were for Alonso of which one was classified.
The worst team for retirements was Lotus, with 18 non-finishes. Virgin only have one less, on 17. This makes Hispania the most reliable of the new teams, and indeed over the last four races Hispania have had both cars finish each time.

Position Changing Stats
In terms of positions gained or lost from start to finish, the best and worst are surprising. Basically, take the qualifying winners and losers, then switch them around!
In his 10 races, Chandhok was the best driver at gaining positions, with an average of more than five per race.
The worst, by contrast, was Vettel, who lost an average of four positions per race. Webber was the next-worst. Presumably it's easier to lose positions if you always start well, and vice-versa, but Trulli's low-starting Lotus tended to lose positions while Alonso's high-starting Ferrari tends to gain them.
Outside of the new teams, Jaime Alguersuari was the best at gaining positions. Outside the big three, Nico Hulkenberg was the worst.

Other Stats
The youngest team was Toro Rosso, with the only two drivers younger than me. Excluding Hispania and Sauber with their extra drivers, the oldest team are Mercedes, where Michael Schumacher's age is combined with a younger Nico Rosberg.
The youngest Team Principal is Christian Horner, who isn't quite 37. The eldest is Frank Williams, who has the same birthday as me and is doing well for 68.

Formula 1 2010 Season Summary One

In the style of 11 points, here are the eleven things that I feel really defined the 2010 season:


1. Someone other than a Red Bull, Ferrari or McLaren getting a pole. Nico Hulkenberg gets the number one spot for his incredible pole position in Interlagos.
2. The tyres working too well. Kamui Kobayashi's late pit stop in Valencia was exciting, and it's a shame it wasn't really tried by other teams. However, it is a risky strategy as you can end up losing a position you don't really want to at the end of the race. Quite a few managed it in Abu Dhabi, including Button on the super-softs for more than 40 laps!
3. The tyres doing what they ought to. The Canadian Grand Prix was a brilliant demonstration of what unpredictable tyres can do in a race, and was what persuaded the FIA to go with Pirelli tyres next season.
4. Cars under suspicion. Red Bull's front wing looked like it wasn't doing what it ought to, bending closer than permitted to the road. But they maintained their innocence, and were proved right in FIA tests. Then they were proved awesome by winning everything in sight.
5. Innovative speed. McLaren pioneered the F-duct, which they managed to protect for several races. It helped them to victories in Australia and |China, and was soon adopted by most of the other teams.
6. Team orders. Ferrari in Germany had Massa and Alonso swap places. They were massively fined, but people were still talking about it to the end of the season. Their strategy backfired again in Abu Dhabi when it cost Alonso the championship as he got stuck behind Petrov.
7. The return of an old name. Lotus Racing brought the historical name of Lotus back to F1. Then they managed to get the rights to the 'Team Lotus' name, but were challenged by Group Lotus. Next year they probably won't have the name, but they will get the black and gold. They were the best of the three new teams in 2010.
8. The championship challengers. Alonso, Webber, Vettel, Hamilton and Button all with the ability, mathematically, to win the championship with only two races to go, and all but Button still able to do so in the final race – a Formula One first. And then the winner was not only the youngest, but also the only one who hadn't led the championship during the year.
9. A successful new track. The Korean Grand Prix was slightly spoiled by the rain, but practice and qualifying hinted that in dry conditions it could be a fantastic race.
10. Rain, rain, rain. It affected a lot of races, including Canada where it kept washing clean the track, and Japan where qualifying had to be postponed. It even rained in Abu Dhabi!
11. Can't decide on a driver. Hispania chopped and changed their drivers throughout the year. Senna did all-but-one race, with Chandhok starting the season and Sakon Yamamoto doing most of the end. Christian Klien was their fourth driver, who raced as a replacement for Yamamoto in Singapore, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

Formula 1 Race Nineteen: Race

For once, no drivers had penalties. All started in the positions they qualified in, even Lewis Hamilton, who only got a reprimand for his close call against Massa in Q2.
Button and Hamilton: Button jumped Alonso right at the start, and that defined the whole race. When the Ferrari pitted, the three at the top stayed out. It was to their benefit, as they didn't stuck in traffic. Hamilton pitted then came out behind Kubica while Button remained behind Vettel. After the Red Bull pit, Button led for a while. He tried to get ahead enough of Kubica, but it didn't work and he eventually came out behind his team mate. They finished second and third.
Kubica and Petrov: Good races for both of them. After the safety car on the first lap, Petrov pitted. Kubica stayed out. Petrov ended up holding Alonso up from lap thirteen until the end of the race, and Kubica held back Hamilton. It's one of Petrov's best drives of the season, and he finished sixth just behind Kubica.
Alonso, Webber, Alguersuari and Massa: It began well for the Ferraris, though Alonso lost a place to Button. But then Webber pitted, and Ferrari responded mistakenly by following the Red Bull. They got stuck in traffic when they should have kept at least Alonso out. Those who pitted under the safety car kept these three back, with Alguersuari letting his sister car through but holding back Massa. It was equally a good ride for the Toro Rosso, who did some great defending. He gets two points from today's race.
Schumacher and Liuzzi: Schumacher spun right on the first lap, and Liuzzi just couldn't avoid crashing into him and going part way up the car. Both drivers were out. However, it didn't stop Rosberg doing well and finishing fourth for Mercedes.
Vettel: Well, what can you say? Pole to flag he led almost all the way. With Alonso and Webber's bad luck, he easily clinched the championship. Well done to the young German! It's his first championship, and probably not his last. Next year he's in the number one car for Red Bull.

Well, the season is over. Next year there are a few rule changes that will make things interesting. Hopefully we'll see better from Hispania, Lotus and Virgin, too.

Formula 1 2010 Season Finish

The season is over. We have a new World Champion: Sebastian Vettel! He is the youngest ever World Champion, at 23 years, 4 months and 11 days, and he stole that title from Fernando Alonso. Seb is also less than a year older than me, which also makes it exciting.

[[ Help, I'm calling him Seb! ]]

Congratulations especially to Christian Horner, the Team Principal of Red Bull, who has led the team fantastically. Well done. I get four cans of Red Bull now! Race summary to come.

For the 2011 season, you'll have to visit F11, my dedicated Formula One blog.

Formula 1 Race Nineteen: Qualifying

Q1 – Kubica and Kobayashi, who both had good practice sessions, the last to come out. Alonso, who with his team mate didn't come out at the end of practice 3 to set a final fast lap, was going well. Good news for Alguersuari, as he managed to outqualify Buemi – the Toro Rosso cars are the only old team without an F-duct. It's the fifth race in a row that he's done so. Also, Bruno Senna beat Christian Klien for the first time.

Q2 – Dusk fell in the desert. This is where things really get competitive. Hamilton and Massa had a bad incident that saw Hamilton take out one of the bollards and the camera on it. The incident presumably to be investigated by the stewards. Hamilton struggled to get into the top 10. Meanwhile, Petrov gets into Q3 and beats Kubica for the second time this season. Kubica is out of Q3 for the first time this season. Rosberg and Schumacher both do well.

Q3 – Petrov was the last man out, and Vettel took a while to get out too. In the end, in this critical session, Alonso got ahead of Webber. Vettel was on pole, with Hamilton second – a good place for the challenger who needs a lot of luck. Alonso third and Button fourth, with Webber fifth. This is a vital result for all the challengers. Alonso will win if it finishes like this.

We are still waiting to see what the stewards have to say about the Massa/Hamilton incident.

Formula 1 Race Nineteen: Preview

The first session started damp. Apart from installation laps, most drivers didn't get out until the sun had dried up the rain – yes, the rain – from earlier in the day. It looks like Abu Dhabi's four days of rain are coming on Formula One weekend, which is typical of this entire season. Almost every weekend has been affected by rain in some way.
The only excitement in the first session was the McLarens splitting Vettel and Webber, with Vettel six tenths faster than Hamilton. Right at the end, Barrichello stopped as he was heading back to the pits.

In the second session, Karun Chandhok was up in the BBC commentary box. The softer tyres were showing severe graining, and most teams were switching onto the harder tyres by the end. This should improve by race day.
Alguersuari was the first retirement of the session. He spun after contacting with the astroturf and stopped. Then it was Massa, who had fuel problems – not on low fuel, but having trouble getting it to the engine. He coasted to a stop.
Hamilton was the fastest before they changed to heavy fuel loads, then Vettel, Alonso and Webber. Kubica was fifth fastest, with Button down in eighth.
Meanwhile, there was an incident between Senna and Hamilton, as Hamilton went off the track behind the back of Senna, who had slowed down, and came back on the track perhaps not in enough control of the car, as he was very close to the side of the Hispania driver. It was right by the entrance to the pit lane, and Senna had to work hard to stay out of the McLaren's way as Hamilton decided to pit right then. The incident will be looked at after the session.

Although the 107 percent rule will not apply until next season, it is interesting to see how close the back cars - the Hispanias, naturally - come to breaching it. In session one, Christian Klien didn't make it within the time, and nor did Fauzy deputizing for Kovalainen. However, in session two all the drivers were within the required time.

Formula 1 Championship part three

I wish more teams were like Red Bull. They could manipulate the race by swapping their drivers, if it was Vettel, Webber, Alonso, say and then swapping Webber and Vettel to get first. But neither the owner Dietrich Mateschitz nor the principal Christian Horner (who’s a Warwickshire local, like me) will employ team orders during the race. This will make for a cracking finale to the season. Of course, it puts the onus on Vettel, in this situation, to decide whether he’d rather see Red Bull win the driver’s championship with Webber, or just push himself and the car to the limits, and let Webber fight it out and risk coming second.
Vettel definitely has what it takes to win race. He’s consistently had pole positions throughout the season, and when his car hasn’t had problems – or had his teammate take him out – he’s won. But he is also young. He knows that he has seasons ahead of him to win championships. For Webber, who is older, he doesn’t have many seasons left.
Will Red Bull have such a consistent, unbeatable car in 2011? Another team – Ferrari or McLaren, most likely – could beat them then.
But the constructor’s championship has given Red Bull the confirmation that this young team has got what it takes to compete with the greats. And with solid British ingenuity from Adrian Newey and the rest of the team, I have to say that I support them. It would be amazing to see Alonso win, but having such a close final makes it all the better.

Now, who’s up for Alonso, Vettel and Webber dropping out and Hamilton winning?

Formula 1 Championship part two

Hamilton must win. Vettel must come first or second. Webber must come fifth or above. Even then, they still depend on other results:
Alonso is guaranteed the championship if he comes first or second. If he comes third or fourth, he will get the championship if Webber does not win. If he comes fifth it gets complicated. A victory for Vettel and a second for Webber here puts them on equal points. Webber will have one less win, but Alonso and Vettel will share the number of first, second and third places. Vettel, with one more fourth place, will win the championship.
However, Red Bull have been consistent in 2010. Vettel first and Webber second in qualifying is almost guaranteed. If they finish the race like this, we could see Vettel get the championship despite never having actually led it during the year. That would be a novelty!

Here, then, is Red Bull's race strategy should they be in first and second: if Alonso is third or fourth, Webber should be first; if Alonso is fifth or below, the two drivers can fight it out. Personally, though, I'd like to see Vettel in front with Alonso fifth.

So Jake Humphrey, that's your figures all done for you. It's also Christian Horner's race strategy all sorted. I'd love to see a situation where Alonso goes from fifth to fourth for whatever reason, and the Red Bulls have to switch places. They've fought all the way to the end of the season, which was great, but if they want that win they'll have to play it as a team.
Interestingly, Alonso will come second in this strategy should he finish third or fourth, or fifth with Vettel winning.

Formula 1 Race Eighteen: Race

It was hot and sunny in Brazil. Nico Hulkenberg's pole was hoping to set the standards for a typically crazy Interlagos race. But it wasn't to be.

The two Red Bulls quickly passed Hulkenberg, with Alonso overtaking Hamilton for fourth. Button was barely in it. On lap 7, Alonso overtook Hulkenberg. It was an early pit stop for Button on lap 12, switching to the harder tyre, and he came out behind a large pack of cars. Then Massa also pitted, coming out behind Button, and then but was forced to pit again after a mistake by the crew. In the pit stops that followed, Button made it up to fifth behind Hamilton in lap 30, as Hulkenberg fell backwards.
At first, Alonso was slower than the Red Bulls, but he got to their pace around lap 18. But he wasn't able to catch up, and there was a large gap between them. Hamilton was struggling to make his car work for him, and pitted in lap 21 with Schumacher. Meanwhile, Alonso pitted in lap 24 without losing position, and Vettel and Webber temporarily switch places. The two Red Bulls battled it out for first and second, but Webber couldn't quite reach his team mate.
On lap 51, there was the one and only retirement of the race: Liuzzi, going too wide into turn 2, hit the wall. The safety car came out, bunching up the track into three races: the leaders of Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Hamilton, Button, Rosberg and Schumacher; the people a lap behind with Hulkenberg leading them and Barrichello at the back; and the new team drivers.
After the safety car came in, the drivers struggled to overtake the back markers because they were all mixed up, but Alonso didn't lose too much on Vettel and Webber. Unfortunately, he didn't quite make it back on them, and finished third.
The best news was with Hulkenberg, who finished eighth and got four vital points for Williams to overtake Force India. Otherwise, Kobayashi and Sutil were both 'doing Kobayashis' and waiting until late in the race to pit. With Kobayashi's tyres causing him havoc, this wasn't a good thing. Interlagos was wearing on the tyres, and most drivers did multiple pit stops.
Alonso still leads the championship by 8 points on Webber, and 15 on Vettel. Red Bull, however, have the constructor's championship.
In the new teams, Christian Klien came out late and was always at least three laps behind. He didn't lose too much, and by the end of the race he was close enough to be classified. Di Grassi, however, also lost a lot of laps in the pits, and was not classified despite finishing the race.

See you in one week for Abu Dhabi, the last race of the season!

Formula 1 Race Eighteen: Qualifying

An amazing shock: pole for Williams!

Sutil and Buemi have five-place grid penalties after Korea. It's wet, but cars are in full-dry specs because the weather tomorrow for the race is expected to be good. This is not a good situation for the drivers. With a limited number of intermediate tyres, they had to be especially careful.

With rain expected early, everyone was queuing up at the start of Q1 to get out. Buemi, who was fast in practice three, was at the front. All 24 cars went out, giving a similar feeling to Monaco. Times continually improved as the track dried out. It was Sutil who went out with the usual six, and no rain came until just after the session. Alonso, meanwhile, was the first man under 1:19 seconds, with Button faster than Hamilton. Timo Glock had a good session, outqualifying both Lotus drivers. Poor old last-placed Bruno Senna didn't make it back to the pits, and had to walk. Not good for his first Brazilian Grand Prix.

Q2, and the track was drying. It was close for Button and Massa, but in the end the Ferrari just managed to push the McLaren out with tyres failing. Alguersuari outqualified Buemi for the fourth race in a row, but Liuzzi had a slow one. However, both Renaults, Williams, Ferraris and Red Bulls got through, as well as Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.

Finally it was Q3. Half-way through the session, it was all in for soft tyres as the intermediates struggled. It was touch and go, with all the drivers struggling for grip especially on the final sector. But it was Nico Hulkenberg who surprised everyone, with his last two laps both good enough for pole position. Williams get their first pole of the season, over a second faster than the field! Even more amazing, Hulkenberg is only a rookie.
Vettel was only second, with Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, Barrichello, Kubica, Schumacher, Massa and Petrov.

Formula 1 Championship part one

Alonso is the only one who can win the championship in Brazil. Button is the only one whose hopes hang by a fraying thread.
If Button finishes below second in this race, he is definitely out of the running. If he finishes second and Alonso gets any points at all, or Webber gets a win, he is out. If he wins and Alonso gets more than 7 points in this race then he is out.
Under the old points system, this championship would be closer. Under a 'medals' system, which is effectively what is used when points are equal, Button would already be out.
He might think he's still got a chance, but under the current system and after a bad performance in wet conditions that he is supposed to prefer in Yeongam, I can't see it.

Everyone else should be able to continue to challenge for the title in Abu Dhabi next weekend, so long as Webber doesn't finish too low:
A win for Alonso gets him 256 points. If Webber comes second he will have 238, which is one second place off Alonso's total. If he comes third he will have 235, or fourth would give 232, which means he'd need to win the next race and have Alonso do very badly indeed. A fifth place with Alonso winning puts Webber out of the running, and even if Hamilton comes second he will be too far off Alonso to challenge.
If Alonso comes second, he will have 249 points, and it gets more complicated as Hamilton's result will affect whether he can win the championship as well as Webber's. In this situation, a win for Vettel keeps him in the running.
Realistically, Vettel has a good chance of winning both races. Red Bull lock out the front row in most of them. However, the Red Bulls have been plagued with problems, with five race retirements to Ferrari's two. The only other team with less are Mercedes.

Outside the top five, what else is going on? Williams and Force India are three points apart in the constructors championship, on 65 and 68 respectively, and the only teams who can really challenge each other. Although Force India had a better start to the season, Williams have been catching up. Apart from that, if we have a horrible race for crashing out then the new teams are still fighting for places and that elusive point.

Formula 1 Race Eighteen: Preview

One driver change for Brazil. Christian Klien is in again for Hispania, replacing Sakon Yamamoto. I guess Hispania aren't trying to show off Senna, then, because Klien's experience in Formula One means he will probably qualify higher. Senna has almost always outqualified Yamamoto, although he did less well against Chandhok.
With only two hours difference to the UK with Brazil on summer time, it was good for me watching the race. No middle-of-the-night sessions with the TV! The exit of the pit lane here is long, and follows the Senna S at the start of the track before the lanes merge.

The first practice session went well for the most part. The only real incidents were at the end, with Petrov and Kobayashi, who had a puncture, coming off the track. Alonso's engine ran out of life, and he pulled off the track right at the end.
Mercedes were running a new diffuser – a single channel, rather than the loophole-permitted double design that will be outlawed next year.

In the second session, Alonso had a new engine. The Ferraris have no unused spares from their eight permitted, unlike both Renaults, Barrichello and the Hispanias. Good news there for Cosworth's reliability.
Massa had the only incident, with initial reports from Ferrari suggesting it was a hydraulics problem. Unfortunately, it was just after switching to the softer 'option' tyres. Despite this he still set the fifth-fastest time.
With the shortness of the track, the atmosphere matched Monaco by the end of the session, with all 23 remaining drivers fighting for clear air as they loaded up on fuel to see their race pace. Grip seemed to be going off the tyres much faster here than on most tracks in 2010, although it's still a 'green' circuit, so we could see more pit stops in the race depending on how much it rubbers in.
Vettel was fastest in both sessions from Webber. After a slow first session, Alonso was third-fastest in the second. Both McLarens did reasonably well. Interestingly, Senna beat Klien's time in the second session. Maybe Hispania are going to be able to show Senna's skill after all.

A prediction from the BBC is that Lewis Hamilton will win. His first race at Interlagos, in 2007, he came seventh. In 2008 he came fifth, and in 2009 he came third. Should this coincidental run of finishes continue, Hamilton will win. Then again, where will he come in 2011? -1 is not a viable position!
Post to come later today about the championship competition. Visit F11, my Formula One blog for 2011 and beyond, for news on next season.

Formula 1 Race Seventeen: Race

Wow, what a Grand Prix this turned out to be! It started in rain and treacherous conditions, with a few laps under the safety car before red flags appeared to pause the race. The cars must have been sitting on the home straight for about an hour. The commentary team were wondering if we'd even be able to have a full race, or even a seventy-five percent race (to get full points) with sunset at quarter to six local time.
But eventually things got going under the safety car again, and on lap seventeen it went in while the drivers continued on full wets. Then again, it was less than two laps before we had a serious crash demanding a safety car, and it was championship leader Mark Webber who spun out, and took Nico Rosberg with him.
Vettel continued in the lead, with Alonso and Hamilton behind him. The safety car went in on lap twenty-three, and the race returned to normal operations.
Trulli and Senna were the next to collide, with Trulli losing his front wing. Senna continued while Trulli pitted, attempted to continue, then retired. After an investigation by the stewards, no action was taken. Senna eventually finished the race in fourteenth place, which puts him above the two Virgins in the championship (but still behind Karun Chandhok).
Jenson Button had a bad race, thanks to a poorly-timed pit stop. He came out behind a bunch of drivers including Sutil, Kobayashi, Hulkenberg and Alguersuari, and was unable to overtake them. He eventually finished twelfth, putting him out of the running for the championship. Now he will have to support Lewis Hamilton.
The third safety car was for Buemi and Glock, who collided and went out. Buemi has a five-place grid penalty in Brazil for this.
Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton were first, second and third after Webber went out. A poor pit stop for Alonso where the wheel nut went off and they had to replace it delayed him to come out behind Hamilton. Then Hamilton went wide in the first corner after a restart from the third safety car, and Alonso retook second. He held second until Vettel's engine blew up, and then had the lead. He maintained this lead right to the end, with Hamilton second and Massa third. This puts Alonso first in the championship, with Webber second, Hamilton a close third (21 points behind), and Vettel fourth (25 points behind).
Sutil's race was bad too. He was also stuck at the back, unlike his teammate Liuzzi who came in sixth! Sutil collided with Kobayashi, and although the Japanese was able to continue, Sutil has a five-place grid penalty in Brazil, as well as a $10,000 fine for admitting his awareness of brake problems he had during the race.
The race finished in almost darkness, but with every one of the 55 laps complete.


The Red Bulls gained no points from the race, and Alguersuari was the only Toro Rosso to finish. McLaren are now only 27 points from their rivals, and still have a chance at the constructor's championship.

See you in Brazil in two weeks' time!

Formula 1 Race Seventeen: Qualifying.

Penalties: Petrov 5 places for crashing out Hulkenberg at Suzuka.

Q1: It was the Force Indias who struggled to qualify today. Heidfeld kept having to pull himself out of danger, but as Liuzzi failed to get a fast-enough lap right at the end of the session, he ended up out in eighteenth. Senna failed to qualify ahead of Yamamoto for the first time, but the Japanese's time was very close to the Virgin of Di Grassi. The two ex-Toyota drivers, Trulli and Glock, were best of the new drivers, with Glock just behind his old teammate, while Kovalainen was further back.

Q2: No real surprises. The BBC commentators predicted that the McLarens, Red Bulls, Ferraris, Mercedes, Barrichello and Kubica would go through, and they were right. Alguersuari outqualifies Buemi for the third race in a row. Petrov qualifies fifteenth, dropping him down to twentieth after the penalty.

Q3: After some tense racing, the two Red Bulls get it together. Vettel, who had in past races been uncomfortable with his car, scrapes P1 by less than a tenth of a second, with Webber next to him on the front row. Alonso is P3 with a disappointed Hamilton in fourth. Button only manages seventh behind Rosberg and Massa.

It might rain tomorrow, so if that happens everything could change. There's also plenty of opportunity for overtaking early in the race.

Formula 1 Race Seventeen: Preview

Red Bull can't quite get ahead

The inaugural Korean Grand Prix started today. The initial predicted times of 1 minute 44 seconds turned out to be false, with faster times coming up in practice 1 and 2.
It was hard for the Red Bulls to take advantage of the sectors of the track that really suited their car – the bendy sectors two and three – because they lost out a lot on sector one's two long straights, which suit the McLarens.
Hispania had the worst of the weekend, with Senna out in practice 1 after some kind of car failure that Hispania will not confirm as a suspension failure. Yamamoto also had problems, losing control of his car into a 360 degree spin and stalling in practice 2. The session was red-flagged. However, Hispania did get both cars going again, although Senna only managed a few minutes right at the end of the second practice session.
The track started slippery because of its freshness, but rubbered up over time. There was a lot of dust on the track, and especially in the pit lane, that was making visibility difficult for some teams. Tyres were wearing out quickly on the new tarmac, so if this continues we could see a lot of tyre changes in the race... except for the 60% chance of rain on Sunday thanks to a typhoon heading China's way.

Jenson Button, on this Grand Prix, is now joint with Nigel Mansell as England's most experienced Formula One drivers with 187 races. In the whole of Britain, David Coulthard is the most experienced on 246.

Formula 1 Race Sixteen: Race

Post number 100!

Pre Race: Since qualifying was delayed I made no post. However, to summarize: Red Bull one-two. Massa didn't even make it into qualifying 3. However, Kubica went third after Hamilton was demoted five grid places to eighth. On the warm-up lap, Di Grassi's Virgin failed and he didn't even make it to the start.

Start: Four cars went out before the first corner: Petrov crashed into Hulkenberg, and Massa hit Liuzzi. Petrov's incident means he has a five-place grid penalty on the next race, but Massa's had no further action taken. The safety car was immediately sent out, and then it was worse luck for Renault as they lost Kubica when his right rear tyre came off.

Red Bull and Alonso: This is Red Bull's seventh one-two, and Vettel's eighth pole position. He maintained it throughout the race, and although they did not get as far ahead from the field as they used to do they completed the race as they had started, with Webber setting the fastest lap right at the end. He now has 220 points, with Vettel second on 206 and equal with Alonso. Alonso went third after Kubica stopped, and stayed there.

MacLaren: They qualified better than expected, especially Lewis Hamilton with his lack of practice time over the weekend (practice three was a washout). Button started fifth on different tyres to Hamilton. After Kubica went out he went into fourth, and was first for a time after the others did their pit stops. After his stop, Button went fifth, and he would have stayed there if Hamilton hadn't lost third gear. This really affected his ability to accelerate, so he allowed Button to overtake him and it finished Button fourth, Hamilton fifth. In the championship, Hamilton has 192 points and Button has 189. It would take a lot of luck for them to win this now.

Kobayashi: Or, as he's been dubbed, 'Kobaybashi'. He raced very aggressively in front of a home crowd, overtaking four times on the hairpin – three of those on the inside. His overtakes were Alguersuari twice (after pitting); Sutil, which would have been twice if the Force India hadn't had problems; Barrichello; and his teammate Nick Heidfeld who outqualified him. Kobayashi finished an impressive seventh (Heidfeld was eighth).

Mercedes: Rosberg was able to spend most of the race holding up his older teammate Schumacher. However, a car failure right at the end of the race caused him to crash out, and Schumacher finished sixth. It was a good performance from both drivers, and especially from Schumacher compared to previous races.

The new teams: Apart from Di Grassi there were no retirements. Other drivers crashing out got Lotus their desperately-desired twelfth place from Kovalainen, almost certainly guaranteeing them tenth place in the driver's championship – worth a lot of money. There was also some good competition between Yamamoto and Glock, although in the end the Virgin got ahead.


Tuesday: Euro 2012 continues with more qualification matches.

Formula 1 Race Sixteen: Preview

In Practice One MacLaren had a bad time, with Lewis Hamilton crashing out half-way through after clipping the kerb. Jenson Button almost made the same mistake, but recovered. The fastest drivers were (unsurprisingly) the Red Bulls with less than 5 hundredths of a second between them, and then Kubica, Sutil and Hamilton – who had set a fast time before his crash.

Practice Two had equally good results for Webber, Vettel and Kubica, with Alonso and Massa fourth and fifth fastest. After a very long wait while his car was fixed, Hamilton managed to get a few laps in but no fast times. Schumacher managed a faster time than his teammate for a change, and Petrov and Sutil also set good times. Right at the end of the session, Rubens Barrichello had an engine problem, but if he needs a change it's okay as he's only used six engines so far this season.

So it looks good for Red Bull here, and Webber could extend his lead over Alonso if things go well in qualifying and the race. Renault and Ferrari should get a good amount of points, and if MacLaren can get their act together after a bad Friday then they might also do reasonably well. I think Sutil for Force India should get a couple of points too. The Williams of Barrichello and Hulkenberg seem to be struggling.

Weather-wise, it looks to be soaking wet tomorrow for Practice Three and Qualifying, which means the grid could be completely mixed up. It will probably be dry on Sunday.

On Karun Chandhok watch: he's at home in England as he informed the BBC commentary boys by text during practice two! So no race and no commentating for him, and it looks like no racing for the rest of the season with Hispania, who will be racing Senna and Yamamoto for the rest of the season.

Formula 1 Race Fifteen: Update

Sutil and Hulkenberg both receive 20 second penalties for going off-track in the first lap, gaining an advantage. So Massa now finishes eighth with 4 points, Sutil is ninth with 2 points, and Hulkenberg is tenth with 1 point.

There is a lot of worrying about whether the Korean Grand Prix will go ahead in a few weeks' time. I will be disappointed if it doesn't, and there will be lessons for India to absorb if they want their Delhi track to be completed for 2011.

Formula 1 Race Fifteen: Update

Sutil and Hulkenberg both receive 20 second penalties for going off-track in the first lap, gaining an advantage. So Massa now finishes eighth with 4 points, Sutil is ninth with 2 points, and Hulkenberg is tenth with 1 point.

Formula 1 Race Fifteen: Race

Massa, Hulkenberg, Sutil
Starting from the back, Massa overtook quickly, but then took a pit stop at the end of the first lap. Then the safety car came out, and in the midst of most other drivers pitting soon caught up to Hulkenberg and Sutil, who were stuck behind Timo Glock in tenth. And there they stayed until eventually Sutil overtook Glock, then Hulkenberg and Massa also overtook. Unfortunately, this manouvre had Glock scraping over the kerb, and he fell far behind with the loss of speed. Glock retired in lap 52. It was a good finish for Sutil, in eighth.

Alonso and Vettel
This was one of the closest races this season, with these two battling it out for first place with only a second or two between them. They even pitted at the same time, thanks to some good eyes in the Ferrari garage. Red Bull had no time to stop Vettel coming in, and couldn't get him out ahead of Alonso either. But Vettel got into his tyres quicker, and might have managed to get the lead if Kobayashi hadn't smashed into the wall under duress from Schumacher, and then had Senna hit him there, requiring a safety car. In the end, Alonso scraped a victory, which resulted in him getting second place in the championship just behind Webber.

Webber, Button and Hamilton
Webber's start was not great, but he persevered. He pitted with the majority under the first safety car, and fell down to eleventh. But he came back, having overtaken a few cars, because everyone ahead of him had yet to pit. Although he had no chance of going first or second, bad pit stop planning (or sheer desperation) by MacLaren put Hamilton and Button behind him as he went third. Then Hamilton tried an overtake on Webber, but it didn't quite work out. His rear suspension broke, and Hamilton was out of the race. After the finish, Hamilton was lucky to be third in the championship by a single point, followed by Vettel, and Button is fifth.

Other retirements
Kovalainen gets the award for 'most spectacular retirement 2010'. He was spun in a near collision with Buemi, and started spurting oil from the back of his car. For some crazy reason he decided not to pit, then burst into flame going along the home straight. Once he realised he was on fire, he jumped out of the car where a marshal handed him a fire extinguisher for him to put the flames out – with his driver protection, he was probably the safest to do it!
Nick Heidfeld also clashed with Schumacher and retired, which the stewards decided was a normal accident and not deserving of punishment. Trulli retired with a puncture on lap 29.

Kubica
He was forced to take a second pit stop after a puncture, but in a magnificent run towards the end of the race he overtook Schumacher, Petrov, Massa, Hulkenberg and Sutil with his better tyres to finish seventh.

In conclusion – an awesome, tense race. A great consecutive victory for Alonso, and a poor consecutive retirement for Hamilton. The championship is still anyone's game.


To come: Premier League predictions result
Next weekend: More football