Drivers of the year 2013 - Q1

Over the next few days I will be counting down the best drivers of the year in a three stage format pretty much exactly like qualifying. Accepting that it's not always the easiest to tell which drivers have shown better given the differences in car performance, but also allowing that in general the best drivers mostly end up in the best cars (with the exception of Nico Hulkenberg) then starting with 23 to 17 here are the first drivers to be knocked out of possibly (but probably not) the definitive Formula 1 driver list of the year.

23. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus)

A bit of a squandered opportunity for Heikki as he replaced Kimi Raikkonen for the final two races of the year. One Q3 appearance and two dreadful starts didn’t make the impression he wanted.

22. Max Chilton (Marussia)

It was a solid rookie year, in fact he finished all the races which is something a first year driver has never done before. It still doesn’t stop me wanting to put him last as mostly he finished there and was completely trounced by his team mate Jules Bianchi. The most infuriating thing was the likes of the BBC and Sky making excuses for him; even though he did improve as the year went on if he finds himself with a seat next year it’s another poor reflection on F1 that money talks just a bit too much.

21. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham)

There was a perception that van der Garde was being dominated by Pic as much as Chilton was by Bianchi but that was not the case at all. He was outstanding in the wet qualifying of Belgium and actually out-qualified Pic 10-9 over the season. Deserves another year as he seemed to be getting better.

20. Charles Pic (Caterham)

It is of course very difficult to judge the drivers from the newer teams as they were consistently about a second off even the slowest of the midfield runners. So despite his qualifying against van der Garde the fact that Pic was leading 8-4 when both Caterhams finished the races showed that Pic had it when it counted this year.

19. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)

Out in Q1 10 times isn’t exactly a great advertisement for future job prospects. But in truth his first year while patchy wasn’t that bad in my eyes at least. Admittedly he had trouble putting an entire weekend together but when looked at closely he often wasn’t that far off his highly thought of team mate Nico Hulkenberg. The second half was when he really came alive when Sauber made the car more driveable, while his seventh place in Japan was a fantastic drive. 

Again with the lack of testing in F1 at the moment, he deserved at least one more year which Sauber obliged by not employing a barely born but rich Russian Sergey Sirotkin.

18. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)

After 2012’s heroics Williams produced a dog of a car which left dear Pastor frustrated. It didn’t help that his rookie team mate was consistently out qualifying him. His race experience told on Sundays when he more often than not finished in front but his criticism of Williams when he knew he was leaving was poor and his single point for the year was equally so. His move to Lotus next year is defined by money even though on his day he can compete with the best.

17. Adrian Sutil (Force India)

Sutil made quite the comeback in Australia after being away for a year with a spectacular performance that rather overshadowed his team mate Paul di Resta. It’s strange that for the majority of the year Sutil lingered behind di Resta and didn’t have nearly as many highlight showings, but Sutil is still the one with the higher profile and by the looks of it the one to stay in Formula as he’s signed for Sauber. He’s a good solid driver, but despite the odd standout showing, he’s never going to give you that spark every race.

For 16 - 11 click here 

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Top drivers of 2012: 25 - 11

This season has been incredible and almost everyone on the grid has had their chance to shine. It's always a matter of opinion about how to judge which drivers have done best over the course of the year. But if you go with the theory that the best drivers end up being in the best cars, then that's one way to start. 

However it is of course possible to see drivers who have had an exceptional year, for instance last season Heikki Kovalainen was brilliant, this year not so much. You're always going to be limited by the strengths of your car, but sometimes some drivers do that little bit more. Here are my top drivers of 2012.

25. Jerome d’Ambrosio (Lotus)

Drove for one race replacing the banned Romain Grosjean at the Italian Grand Prix; didn’t disgrace himself but a KERs failure put paid to any decent result.

24. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)

Angering Vettel was his main claim to fame, and perhaps blocked a few too many people, but certainly give him credit for occasionally beating de la Rosa.

23. Pedro de la Rosa (HRT)

What was he going to do in this car? Exactly, he’s a decent driver but beating his team mate was about as good as it was going to get, but there were days when he did more, his qualifying in Japan was exceptional.

22. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)

I thought he’d be a bit closer to Kovalainen, but as the season wore on he began to put pressure on his team mate and was the team’s saviour in Brazil securing them 10^th place in the constructors.

21. Charles Pic (Marussia)

Pic should rejoice for being the first number 2 driver from this team to secure a second season in Formula 1. He should rejoice still further that it’s with the slightly better Caterham team. Challenged Glock enough through the year.

20. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)

Started off well enough but as the season progressed Petrov gave him more of a run for his money and he seemed to buckle a bit; not on the form of last year. Sadly he might not be in Formula 1 next year, but that’s more because he lacks money!

19. Timo Glock (Marussia)

Was the best driver in the new teams this year, his performance in Brazil looked amazing, such a shame he was hit to prevent what could have secured 10^th place for Marussia.

18. Bruno Senna (Williams)

This position for Senna is more a reflection on how Williams handled him than how he drove. He missed vital set up time as they gave the car to 3^rd driver Valtteri Bottas in first practice at most races. Still he picked up points in half the races, but they were never the big ones.

17. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

Was often the driver who fell in Q1, but to be fair to him he raced very well 

and was taken out of a few good points paying positions but needs more speed from qualifying.

16. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

Qualified better than his team mate but he was a victim of circumstance on a few occasions that robbed him of some better results. Still, he had a certain spark and he seemed to be consistently improving as the season went on; his Korean result was particularly impressive.

15. Paul di Resta (Force India)

He started off brightly against his team mate Nico Hulkenberg, but as the season wore on it started becoming increasingly noticeable that he was being out performed, and the rumours of him becoming the next Mercedes driver started becoming quieter. Needs a more consistently sparkling season in 2013, like his result in Singapore.

14. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)

He may have won an impressive race in Spain, but the Williams was probably at least the 6^th best car on the grid, sometimes better. That they finished 8^th in the constructors championship was down to the large contribution of incidents from Maldonado. Many times he threw away a decent result, scoring just 5 times during the season. That he still beat his team mate is testament to the fact he’s actually bloody quick, next year he must harness his speed because Pastor could be very good indeed.

13. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)

Yes, ok he crashed a lot. And that’s the only reason he’s down here. The ban because of the start line crash in Belgium knocked his confidence, but a lot of the other incidents weren’t his fault, wrong place, wrong time. He had the measure of Kimi in qualifying a lot of the time and for a fair amount of the season looked the most likely to take Lotus’ first win. I think he’ll be very good next year providing Lotus keep him. And they should.

12. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

Rosberg is a good driver, he really is. But that’s all he is, I just don’t see him becoming a world champion. His first year with Schumacher, he thrashed the 7 time champion. He again out-scored Schuey this year and took his first win, but to me he wasn’t the quicker driver in the team. Lewis Hamilton should be comfortably the faster driver next year at Mercedes.

11. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)

He often out qualified and out raced his McLaren bound team mate Sergio Perez this year and took a great result in Japan with 3^rd place. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves; he’s one of the great over takers but having said that he still gets involved in a few incidents and didn’t come close to winning a race, something his team mate showed the Sauber could do.

For the the top 10 drivers, click here

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Alonso doubles up to take emotional home win

What a European Grand Prix that was; who’d have thought the Valencia venue had it in it to produce such a thrilling and frenetic race.

Sebastian Vettel looked like he was cruising to become the first double winner of 2012, but it was Fernando Alonso who ended up on top of the podium as the race changed dramatically half way through…Such is 2012.

Alonso’s qualifying hadn’t gone according to plan, when despite being only 2/10ths slower than the fastest time of Q2 he missed out on the top ten shoot out to line up 11^th. A brilliant start and opening lap left him in 8^th.

He fought hard during the opening half of the race, making the moves to push himself up the order ready to take advantage of any opportunity that came his way. He wasn’t too far away from Romain Grosjean’s Lotus in 2^nd with Lewis Hamilton 4^th, but Sebastian Vettel was reliving his 2011 glory days and had disappeared into the distance with a 20 second lead.

On Lap 28 an incident between Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham and the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne left debris all over the track, the safety car was deployed. Vergne later received a 10 place grid drop for Silverstone.

Everyone jumped into the pits, Alonso emerging ahead of Lewis as the McLaren driver suffered another slow pit stop. The race was beginning to come to him as he lay in third behind Vettel and Grosjean.

The safety car headed the field for five laps before they were allowed to commence battle once again. Alonso is seldom not ready to fight, he unleashed the Ferrari down the start finish straight, tight behind Grosjean, he went to the outside for turn two, hit his brakes as late as could be, nearly brushed the wall, but he was through into second place.

Next was Vettel, the dominant leader for so long in Valencia we’d not seen much of him on the television coverage apart from behind the safety car. But the next time we saw him the car was slowing, an alternator belt snapped in his Renault engine eliminating him from a Grand Prix that was surely his for the taking just half a lap after the restart.

Vettel had done everything right, pole, a brilliant start, dropping everyone behind him, he looked supreme. But it wasn’t to be for him today, Alonso swept by, a scarlet streak past the Red Bull as Vettel saw him vanish over a race win in points ahead of him.

Grosjean wasn’t about to disappear though, and filled the Ferrari’s mirrors before he too on lap 41 had a similar problem to Vettel with his Renault engine. Grosjean had looked threatening all weekend and would surely have mounted a challenge after a brilliant drive.

It wasn’t done for Alonso yet though, he pushed on ahead of the following Lewis Hamilton, but he had to make his tyres last. At one point it seemed the McLaren was cruising up to the back of him again just like in Canada.

But not this time, this time it was the Spaniard who just about kept his tyres together while the McLaren eventually faded before an accident took Lewis out of the race. Not even once Kimi Raikkonen was through into second place was Alonso really threatened and he reeled off the final laps to take his 29^th career victory ahead of the Lotus driver.

His car stopped on the slowing down lap, and with Spanish flag in hand was clearly emotional as he stepped from the car in front of his countrymen. He never gives up and when a door opens for him, he walks straight in. With retirements for both his main title rivals and with the consistency he’s shown so far this year, a 20 point lead in the title hunt looks very handy indeed.

Lewis Hamilton vs Pastor Maldonado

Both these drivers had qualified well, second and third for Hamilton and Maldonado respectively. Lewis maintained position at the start but after fighting hard his tyres began to fade in the closing stages. After holding off Kimi he eventually conceded the place, but Maldonado was straight on to the back of him and on lap 56 with just one lap left he made his move.

There’s two perspectives on what followed, the first is that Lewis knew his tyres were done, if he let Maldonado through he was far enough ahead of fifth placed Michael Schumacher to just about maintain fourth and take 12 points home with him and lie just 11 points behind Alonso. As it is he is now 23 points behind. Mr consistency that he has been this year might just have yielded.

But why should he do that, he was on the podium, he was racing, he is the ultimate racer and Maldonado wasn’t coming through without at least a fight. Lewis had been fighting all day, being passed, passing back, he was in the zone.

Entering the DRS zone Maldonado made the move on the outside into turn 12. Lewis Hamilton had the line, and squeezed the Williams driver off the track. Maldonado should have given up the corner, come back on the track and tried pass him down into turn 17. He still had plenty of opportunity, but he jumped over the kerb into the McLaren sending Lewis into the wall and dropping the Williams down to 10^th place at the finish.

Maldonado blames Hamilton for not giving him room but it was Lewis’ corner, Maldonado was off the track and was obliged to give way. The stewards thought the same and have penalised him 20 seconds dropping him to 12th.

Could this cost Lewis the championship? Too early to tell yet, but it’s given Alonso a mighty advantage with which to play with.

Schumacher back on the podium

What a wonderful moment it was to see Michael Schumacher back on the podium for the first time since he won the Chinese Grand Prix back in 2006. That it should come with a hint of controversy too seems perfectly apt.

He passed some double waved yellow flags on the final lap, Schumacher was seen to open his DRS which isn’t illegal but seems to show him still pushing. Luckily the stewards ruled that he had slowed down enough to avoid a penalty.

Still, it was a fighting drive to the podium; he looked adrift during the opening half of the race after 

starting 12^th, he was one of the few to start on the medium harder compound so expected to run longer than most. He worked his way up the order as others pitted but soon had a train of cars behind him as his tyres drained their grip.

The safety car turned the race for him. Most of the front runners had pitted for the second time so Schumacher found himself lying just behind his team mate Nico Rosberg in eighth.

With the safety car gone you can overtake into the final corner and ever the opportunist, Schuey dived around Rosberg. It wasn’t caught in the coverage but he was through and away.

He pitted on lap 42, exiting ahead of Webber and from then on they were in tandem as they fought through the field from 11^th and 12^th places. One by one they picked them off with their fresher rubber; Button, Perez, the Force India’s fell to the wayside. Schumacher had to be incisive with his overtaking as he never had Webber more than a second adrift.

Having just passed Nico Hulkenberg for fifth, Hamilton and Maldonado were in the wall and suddenly for once luck was on his side and he crossed the line for a fighting third place. He was ecstatic and it was nice to see Schumacher back where he belongs, a great result.

Lotus

If one of their drivers is going to win, you have to say it’s going to be Romain Grosjean. He fought valiantly all race with some good passing and was unlucky to suffer a rare mechanical failure just as it looked like he had victory for the taking.

Kimi Raikkonen needs to sort out his qualifying, he is being outshone by Grosjean in that department but also in recent races when it really counts on the Sunday. Still it was a good second place but again one he was unhappy with as he felt he should have had the win.

That’s about the third race he reckons should’ve been his, it’s time for him to step up a bit because Lotus should have won by now, but if and when they do win you wouldn’t put your money on Kimi at the moment.

Rest of the top 10

Mark Webber had various problems in practice and he couldn’t resolve them in time for qualifying. He started 19^th and through the pit stops made some progress. After the safety car he followed Schumacher through the field to earn a brilliant fourth place and second in the championship.

Nico Hulkenberg scored his best result of his career with fifth for Force India maximising his strategy but just not able to hold off Schumacher or Webber to score what could have been a podium.

Nico Rosberg was dropped a lot of places after the restart but after pitting for a second time used that fresh rubber to charge back into the points with sixth.

Paul di Resta reckons he should have started from fourth but tenth was what he got so seventh on the only one stop strategy wasn’t a bad result and showed Force India really getting back into contention in the midfield constructors battle.

Jenson Button has had a terrible time over recent races, he was happy with his race pace but the result wouldn’t have been what he wanted, although it wasn’t so bad after he’d been pushed down the order at the start so it was a decent enough recovery but he needs more points quickly if he wants to be a title contender.

Ninth went to Sergio Perez in the Sauber so they at least got two points after Kamui Kobayashi was running fourth but an incident with Bruno Senna then Felipe Massa forced him to retire.

Bruno Senna finished 11th but claimed the final point after his team mates penalty.

Caterham moved forward this weekend with Kovalainen getting into Q2 on merit while Petrov ran as high as tenth. HRT also outpaced Marussia but Timo Glock didn’t race due to illness.

Title battle: Advantage Alonso, but Vettel confident

The British Grand Prix is next up where Alonso took his only race win of 2011. He now has a decent lead to defend, while what he considers his two main title challengers have ground to make up.

Lewis Hamilton will be angry to have lost big points when Vettel had retired. He’ll desperately want to get back on track at his home race after what had previously been a very consistent points gathering season.

Vettel was disappointed with retirement but he remains confident. He has every reason to be, despite how close qualifying appeared to be he took pole by 4/10ths, and was well ahead when the safety car appeared. The Red Bull has certainly found an extra turn of speed that will help both Vettel and 2^nd placed Webber.

It’s still very open, but none of them can afford another bad weekend, especially not Vettel or Hamilton; the fight continues at Silverstone.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Monaco Grand Prix preview

In the words of Jenson Button after he won in 2009 ‘Monaco baby, yeah’! It’s the race all the drivers want to win; the claustrophobia of the barriers needs levels of concentration that make it a true test for drivers as they wind their way past the many famous landmarks that scatter the circuit, the often used cliché of it being the jewel in the crown of Formula 1 is certainly a very apt one.

This year it’s a race that almost all the drivers can actually genuinely go there and believe they have a hope of winning as the form book has been ripped up, spat out and stepped on before being tossed in the Mediterranean.  

The gripping tyre debate

There has been no real form set in 2012, it makes predicting anything rather a hard task. The Pirelli tyres, for better or worse, have made Formula 1 a lottery. I think in terms of entertainment in the races they’ve been a great success.

However, even with Sebastian Vettel winning all the time last year, many of the races were fantastic spectacles, but you at least had a consistent run of form for people to latch on to. This year it hasn’t been like that at all with almost any team coming to the forefront, and the thing is they don’t even know why, which gives it all a slight artificialness.

Certainly as I wrote in my Spanish race report many drivers are baffled and frustrated with why they can’t make the tyres work for them on particular occasions. I’m not sure it’s particularly a good thing.

For all the technical wonders that Formula 1 teams possess they have been left flummoxed by the tyres to such an extent that they don’t even know how their car will perform one day to the next. For instance Lotus was extremely fast in race set up mode on the Friday of Spain. Two days later and a 10C drop in temperature and they couldn’t compete with Ferrari and Williams until the end.

As Mark Hughes wrote here for the Skysports website, it’s about maintaining a consistent approach with the tyres on a given occasion which many a driver can do, but how many can really sustain full on attack for lap after lap? Well none at the moment as that skill is no longer required, something you feel many drivers miss.

Is Formula 1 now just an entertainment lottery show or is it still a sport of technical skill and driving to the edge? My bet is you’ll see a slight adjustment of how Pirelli go about constructing their tyres for 2013 to give a little bit more consistency so that teams can go on the attack again and satisfy the drivers a bit more.

Who will win on the streets?

So as the teams set up in Monaco for tomorrow’s practice they’ll be desperately searching for that all elusive sweet spot while coping with differing temperatures and a street track surface which no one will really know where they stand, probably until Sunday evening.

Well having said that let’s try and work out who Pirelli would like to win this weekend? I’ll start off with a bold prediction that perhaps, just maybe we could pick up our sixth different winning driver and team and you’ve got to believe it’ll be Kimi Raikkonen and Lotus.

When you search for a consistent theme from 2012 perhaps the most obvious one is that Lotus have been there abouts all year long. If they were a graph they’d have more of a straight line than anyone else.

If anything they’ve been moving up, they could conceivably have won the last two races, Kimi certainly thinks there’s been missed opportunities. If the tyres hadn’t have died so comprehensively in China while in second he’d have been leading the championship, it has to be his turn to shine soon.

I’m not forgetting Romain Grosjean though, he’s been very impressive with his second bite at Formula 1 especially in qualifying. His race performances have left him getting a bit battle scarred, but Bahrain and Spain have marked a turnaround but at present Kimi just has the edge on Sundays.

Apart from Lotus making it six from six, as we enter our second quarter of the season it becomes more likely that someone will double up their race wins. There’s many who could but it’s not outlandish to suggest Pastor Maldonado could get back to back victories.

Providing Williams have recovered their equipment after their garage fire I think they’re a reasonable choice. Maldonado was unlucky not to finish sixth last year in a terrible car after he got bumped by Lewis Hamilton. So with a winning car and that extra bounce from victory… Bruno Senna won in GP2 so let’s not rule him out either.

Ferrari’s updates appeared to at least work for Fernando Alonso in Spain, he is joint leader of the championship and really he has no right to be. But he’s been fantastic and the team have worked hard to improve the car, but to be in a position where he is, is entirely down to him. With an improving car I think it’s looking ominous for the rest, he’s always there waiting in the wings, but how long before he’s flying far above?

Realistically, although you never know, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes will be the other challengers for victory. McLaren still probably have the quickest car, tyres corrected, especially in Lewis Hamilton’s hands.

Hamilton has been held back by team mistakes, he’s another one who has cause to think he should be leading the title hunt, but he’s kept his head and he should be well up there in qualifying. But it’s Sunday where there’s the question mark. McLaren have faded in the last few races, if they’ve understood why then I’d expect Lewis to be heading Jenson Button who is increasingly confused by the way the tyres work for him.

Never discount Red Bull, Vettel and Mark Webber will be around, but after a resounding victory in Bahrain they were nowhere in Spain. Vettel looked disappointed, but if anything it’ll make him more determined than ever and he’s still leading the championship. He took a great Monaco victory last year while conserving the tyres and holding off Alonso and Button so he’s got recent form, if that counts for anything.

Mercedes too have dropped back after their win in China and with Michael Schumacher restrained by a grid penalty they’ll be looking to Nico Rosberg to lead the charge, but I think they’ve dropped down the pecking order for now at least.

But these are just predictions, nobody really knows what the Pirelli gods have in store for us in the principality and whatever you may think about how the racing is going this year, it’ll still be a lot of fun finding out.

photo taken from autosport.com

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.

Maldonado takes Williams back to the top

Pastor Maldonado took his first Formula 1 victory for Williams-Renault today and became the first ever Venezuelan to top the podium. It was also the team’s first win since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2004. It was quite an incredible drive resulting in the fifth different driver and manufacturer to win a race from the first five races, something not seen since 1983.

Fire in the garage

However, this amazing story today was soured by a freak fuel explosion in the Williams garage about an hour after the race. Just after the team had had a celebratory team photo taken, fuel somehow ignited. While watching the BBC F1 forum you could see thick black smoke pouring out the back of the garage.

It was quickly under control, but team members from Williams, Force India and Caterham have reported injuries to a few team members who helped tackle the blaze. So far it thankfully looks like they escaped anything too serious.

The fight for victory

Before this incident though, the Williams team were revelling in the glory of victory and the brilliance of Maldonado. He’s been involved in a few incident in his short Formula 1 career and been labelled wild and a pay driver.

Admittedly he comes with a whole heap of Venezuelan money, and his crash on the last lap in Australia this year while chasing Fernando Alonso kept up his wild man rep, but if ever there was a performance that highlighted just how quick he can be, especially this year, then this was it.

He inherited pole position after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified for not having enough fuel to take a sample but Pastor looked relaxed before the race, and he wasn’t being cagey about what result he wanted.

He realised he had a chance of winning, it’s that kind of season, and he exploited this fully. However, at the start he had the Ferrari of Alonso alongside him into the first corner and made a wise decision to let him go.

After the first lap he was 1.3 seconds behind Alonso, but Maldonado was going to make a race of this, the very next lap Maldonado brought the gap down.

Williams looked like they were playing it cautious in the first round of pit stops, playing into the hands of the bigger teams like Sauber had done with Ferrari in Malaysia and Lotus with Red Bull in Bahrain. Maldonado pitted a lap later than Alonso on lap 12 and they looked content to cover what Alonso did.

Maldonado stuck close and was unrelenting in his pursuit; Alonso couldn’t drop Pastor. Coming up to the second stops Maldonado went on the attack.

Williams brought him in on lap 25 before Alonso this time and got him out on fresh tyres and into clear air. Alonso was delayed by Charles Pic in the Marussia, but stayed out two laps longer which seemed a fairly fundamental mistake.

Perhaps Ferrari wanted to be sure they’d be on fresher rubber come the end of the race, but despite passing being significantly easier these days track position is still king and Alonso had just lost it. As Maldonado shot through on the start finish straight, the Spaniard was only just exiting and was over 6 seconds behind.

It wasn’t all over for Pastor, Alonso doesn’t give up without hassling and getting a few punches in first. He maintained the gap for a while, but the Ferrari started gaining putting the pressure and the gap was down to three seconds when the Williams pitted for the last time on lap 42.

It was a slow stop, but he again exited on fresh tyres and in clean air, until he caught Kimi. Alonso dearly wanted to win again in front of his home crowd and kept on coming at him, he’d looked after his tyres well and pitted three laps later to exit close behind.

 

They both passed Kimi quickly who had yet to stop, with Alonso right on the back of Maldonado. For all the world it looked like Alonso was about to make the move to win. But it never quite came, the DRS was open but Maldonado wasn’t rattled and remained just out of reach.

Ferrari were obviously hoping that the Williams’ tyres were about to drop off, they’d not had to do a 25 lap stint before, and with three laps extra life they thought they’d be ahead of the fight by the end. However, they dropped out of contention with four laps to go as Alonso’s tyres went off first leaving 

Maldonado safe to take a fantastic win for Sir Frank Williams 70^th birthday.

Maldonado displayed a fantastic maturity and grabbed his moment well, he really earned it the right way.

Ferrari looked to have the opportunity to be the first team to claim a second win, the updates they brought certainly helped Alonso, Massa not so much who qualified 16^th, got a great start, fought around the top 10, got a drive through penalty and finished 15^th. Not a good day after the progress he’d made in Bahrain.

But Fernando enjoyed the weekend, he qualified well and altogether looked a far more competitive proposition but I think Ferrari believed they would beat Williams and didn’t factor in that they’d have to earn it first.

Perhaps if they’d covered Maldonado after the 2^nd stop to try and maintain track position they’d have been able to control the race, but it wasn’t to be and in fact Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus nearly caught him on the last lap. Still Alonso is now joint championship leader and Ferrari are on the up.

Lotus maintain consistency but could they have won?

As we know the tyres are affected by all sorts of circumstance such as temperature and track surface, but despite this many people predicted a Kimi victory today after both Lotus’ displayed good race pace in Friday practice. But it was colder today, perhaps explaining why they couldn’t extract the pace they thought they had. 

Anyway after the start Kimi shot into third place from fourth and from then on actually ran a pretty lonely race. The expected challenge never materialised although after the final stops he had a lot fresher tyres than the two ahead of him, and almost caught Alonso towards the end, but I think the team may view this as another missed opportunity.

They certainly seemed a bit conservative with strategy. Grosjean backed Kimi up well with fourth place, he made a poor start from third but still managed to achieve a respectable result. Lotus surely have to be the next manufacturer to get a win, so far they’ve probably been the most consistent, look out for them in Monaco, especially Kimi who surely has to be a championship contender now?

Hamilton charges from the back

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was astoundingly quick in qualifying and took pole position by over half a second. Although we’ve seen McLaren drop away on race day over the last couple of races you have to believe he’d have been a significant challenger for victory.

His chance was taken from him after a team error in which the car wasn’t fuelled enough to get back to the pits after his pole lap. This was already contravening regulations which state the car must be able to return to the pits and have a litre of fuel left over to be tested. The punishment to disqualify him and send him back to the grid was harsh, perhaps send him to the back of Q3, but the whole grid?

Anyway despite this, Lewis maintained a positive outlook and said he’d ‘drive his heart out’. But he must be becoming frustrated with some of the basic mistakes his team are making? He’s not under contract next year…just saying.

Despite another troubled pit stop, Lewis was great today. From last on the grid he was the only one to make a two stop strategy work, looking after one set of tyres for nearly half the race. He made some great passes on Senna, Massa and particularly the Toro Rosso’s.

He cut past Daniel Ricciardo just after turn 3 to split them then dived around the outside of turn 4 to set himself up with the inside line at turn 5 to get past Jean-Eric Vergne, brilliant stuff. Despite fading tyres at the end which lost him a place to Vettel he was challenging Rosberg for 7^th. A great drive to 8^th was his reward today but it could have been so much better.

Tyres make championship challengers become bit-part players

Jenson Button started 14 places higher and ended up 9^th a place behind Lewis. Not a good day for him and one of many drivers who complained of being baffled by why they didn’t have the speed or why they couldn’t make the tyres work as well as others.

Mark Webber for Red Bull was 11^th and was another one to wonder why he just didn’t have the speed. It’s a mark of the season how managing the tyres can make previous race winners and even championship leaders just bit part players at the very next race.

Sebastian Vettel joined Webber in not understanding why Red Bull switched the front wings over, but apparently it was because they were losing down force from them. Vettel hadn’t set a time in Q3 and so started 7^th. He didn’t make a great start but was running 6^th by lap 19 after pitting early to find some clean air.

However his afternoon turned into a comeback drive after being given a drive through penalty for failing to slow down at yellow flags. He fought back wonderfully with some superb moves against Button, Hamilton and Rosberg that yielded him a final result of 6^th. It kept him in a joint championship lead, but his disappointment was clear to see after the race.

I think they’d all like a more consistent tyre so they know where they stand rather than the lottery we have now, but it does result in a great show.

The Schumacher-Senna incident

Michael Schumacher had another terrible race, this time he crashed into the back of Bruno Senna’s Williams taking them both out. Schumacher has argued that Senna changed direction in the braking zone which took him unawares. Certainly Senna does move just before turn 1 to the right just as Schumacher did the same to try and take the outside line, but to me it looked like a racing incident.

However it is Schumacher’s responsibility as the car behind to avoid that sort of contact, and as a result has been given a five place grid penalty for Monaco, while Senna’s day got worse after his car was damaged by the fire in the Williams garage.

Rest of the top 10

Kamui Kobayashi had a starring role today and deservedly took 5^th making some aggressive moves, especially on Button; giving him a slight tap on his way past. His team mate Perez retired but was never in it after suffering a puncture when Grosjean hit him on the opening lap.

Nico Rosberg finished up 7^th after making a good start but faded badly towards the end of the race when he was passed by Kobayashi and Vettel near the end. Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 and put up a great defence of the final point, refusing to give into Mark Webber.

So that was it for Spain, it was another race for of unpredictable twists and turns and yet another winner in this 2012 season. Next up is Monaco, always a highlight in the Formula 1 calendar. We head to the Mediterranean knowing that Williams are back, no one has control over the tyres, the top seven drivers are separated by less than a race win and no one can predict who’ll win; something to look forward to then.

all photo's taken from autosport.com