First quarter over, what does the form guide tell us?

What does the form guide tell us? Nothing. The Spanish Grand Prix marked the completion of the first quarter of the 2012 Formula 1 season and trying to assess anyone’s form right now is about as difficult as juggling knives, unless you are an accomplished juggler. But let’s look at a few highlights from the season so far.

First of all the sheer unpredictability of it all; five different teams and drivers winning the first five races hasn’t been seen since 1983. Pirelli have certainly mixed things up this year with no one able to work the tyres consistently from race to race.

Fernando Alonso has been utterly brilliant. Everyone constantly marks him out as the most complete driver racing in Formula 1 right now, and it’s so hard to disagree with that as he is joint leader of the championship with a car that has been way off the pace up until Spain.

He has dragged that car into the points at every race so far and it’s been amazing to see. He’s been very positive with his attitude, something that might not have been the case a few years ago, and is really leading the team. If Ferrari’s updates continue to improve the car, Alonso has given them a great start to the season to build upon.

Kimi Raikkonen; his return raised many questions about motivation and did he still have what it takes etc. Well, two podiums, which perhaps should have been wins certainly have answered anyone who doubted him. He’s been awesome and I think is certainly a title contender at this early stage of the season. A win must be just around the corner.

Williams winning after so long was quite fantastic. To win with their so called pay driver as well was the icing on the cake. Pastor Maldonado may have come with a lot of money, but then again Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher had money to secure their first drives too.

I’m not saying he’ll end up a world champion one day, but he certainly displayed a great deal of maturity and control in delivering Williams’ first win since 2004. I think we’ll see a few more podiums from Williams before the year is out too.

Sebastian Vettel needs a mention, he's been good this year. It must be such a fall after the dizzying highs of last year, but he's kept at it, got a win and a podium and is joint leader of the title chase. And his wheel to wheel racing has been brilliant.

So on to the not so wonderful things. First of all the sheer unpredictability of it all; I’ll talk more about the tyres in my Monaco preview next Wednesday, but the Pirelli’s are producing a lottery situation where no one can get a real grip (intended) on how to use them.

Of course it is the same for everyone and the teams have to cope with whatever circumstances are thrown at them but when drivers, good drivers, are left bewildered by why the tyres won’t work for them, then it feels like anyone can win given a track temperature that suits their car. When you know the drivers can’t go all out, it kind of takes the edge off this unpredictability, well just a tiny bit.

I’m not sure that that route is how Formula 1 should go, as you want to see drivers and teams really earn it by fighting for it, not just winning because on that particular day the best couldn’t make their tyres work and they don’t even know why. But like I said, it’s the same for everyone.

Poor Felipe Massa, after the improvement in Bahrain where he looked quicker than Alonso, he has got a demand from Ferrari to step up in Monaco. It’s difficult for Ferrari, they’ve helped him after his accident in 2009 but for whatever reason it’s just not working for him.

When he came back at the start of 2010 he could have won his first race back, should have won in Germany the same year but was deprived by team orders, but last year he was just lacklustre. 

He had been getting better and better every year at Ferrari since 2006, but whether that accident has taken the edge off or the sheer force of Alonso and Ferrari’s dedication to him has made Massa unsettled or he just can’t handle the tyres, it’s do or die time for Felipe.

If he can’t I don’t know who would replace him anyway, perhaps Perez, maybe test driver Jules Bianchi. I think it would be worth giving Jaime Alguersuari a go. But first of all I’d give Felipe a bit more time, he’s better than what he’s doing now, hopefully he can rediscover his form before it’s too late.

Caterham, Marussia and HRT; I thought at least Caterham would have made enough progress to latch onto the back of the midfield.

And Finally, McLaren; Lewis Hamilton got his head down after last year’s catalogue of errors and has quite frankly been the quickest out there, definitely in qualifying. Despite the pace falling away for the Woking team on Sundays Hamilton should be leading the championship.

But pit errors and that qualifying mistake in Spain has at least cost Lewis a podium, possibly two. With the season being so close, this could hurt his title chances. They need to get their act together as it’s not something you’d normally expect from such a successful team.

Anyway, it’s certainly been an interesting start to the season, can’t wait for the rest of it, starting with the streets of Monaco.