Dave Kean

I was going to carve out a little time this morning to look at the times from the first F1 pre-season test at Jerez. But then I realized why?

I could put down five or six hundred words about times, but as with every other year no one really has a clue what’s going on.

The headlines are
• Times went down over the test
• The step noses on the cars are ugly
• Ferrari have a lot of work to do, but it’s promising
• Hamilton looked good
• Red Bull were fast
• Torro Rosso, Lotus and Force India did OK
• The step noses on the cars are really ugly

Absolutely nothing there we did not know before the test started and I just saved myself a bunch of time.
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2011 was a good year for F1, the stats are excelent, more over taking thanks to a combination of aero changes, the Drag-Reduction-System (DRS), the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) and the tires that gave tremendous grip, for a while.

But it could have been more competitive. Perhaps we were just spoiled by maybe the best championship in the history of the sport in 2010. With Kimi Raikkonon returning for 2012 (admittedly with Lotus) there are 6 world champions on the grid, and that’s got to be good.

Lets be clear, Vettel won his second world championship in style. It became little predicable and was wrapped up with four races to go. But such was the speed of Vettel and the Red Bull that there was little real doubt after Valencia. The constructor’s championship (which is what the teams get paid by) was tied up one race later.

Vettels ability in the first couple of laps to pull out a significant lead over everyone was astounding. That first lap was critical and made it clear that baring a mistake, everyone else was running for second. Read more…

Sebastian Vettel finally tied it all up last night in a fascinating Japanese Grand Prix. Lets be clear, it’s been a while since there was anything other than mathematical doubt as to who was going to win the drivers titles this year.

It’s been another compelling season of racing and the comfort of Vettel’s championship, won with four races left, had taken little of the drama away.

The winning margin this year is impressive because both the driver and the team cut out the mistakes. Last year he was clearly the quickest, but errors by both parties cost him points on more than one occasion. This year there was none of that, just a team and driver at their very best.

I can think of only two significant errors this year, and that is remarkable. The last lap mistake in Canada that gave Jenson Button an outstanding win, and a spin in Germany, that’s it.

Nine wins and twelve pole positions in fifteen races is impressive. Yes, there were weekends where he was dominant, but there were others where he had to fight for every point and did so. But wait there’s more, he’s the only driver to have finished every race and what’s more finished every race except for Germany on the podium. That’s impressive.

Perhaps his most dominant weekend was Turkey, it was clear from the Friday times that everyone else was looking at second. Team principal Christian Horner was asked after qualifying by one of the press pack if Vettel had any weakness. He replied, “Yes, when he turned up this weekend he had quite a dodgy haircut.”

It was the same story in Australia, Valencia, Belgium, Italy and a couple of others. Monaco was shaping up to be an outstanding fight to the end before a safety car ruined the spectacle. Read more…

In the last 12 months…

• 9 countries
• 28 cities I’ve overnighted in
• 3 people I played tennis with
• 0 people I’ve beaten playing tennis
• 43 flights
• 9 different airlines
• 12 upgrades on Delta
• 2 Upgrades on BA
• 17 nights in Guildford
• 2 Grand Prix
• 23 different airports
• 1 RCMP that I had dinner with
• 21 Sounders games
• 26 professional football games
• 2 wonderful Sunday afternoons eating BBQ on the deck I built
• 4932 photographs taken with my now beat up, but rugged and reliable Canon S90.
• 350 of those photos made it onto the blog
• 7 photos used on someone elses blog with permission
• 10 photos that were on someone elses blog without permission
• 2 days of rallying
• 3 Mariners games
• 1 wedding
• 1 funeral
• 7 really, really good, memorable restaurants I ate in
• 2 of those really, really good, memorable restaurants that were in London
• 1 new laptop
• 2 karaoke songs
• 9 Grand Prix won by Sebastian Vettel
• 0 times I saw Sebastian Vettel win a Grand Prix
• 3 Emergency Room visits
• 5 times someone tried to get me to go to yoga (really… Do I look like a yoga person?)
• 2 Conferences
• 4 visits to the Tate Modern
• 8,348,832 moments where I count my blessings for my wonderful family, incredible friends and the amazing things I have done in the last year.

So we made it through to race day and the weather was per forecast – wet. Personally, I like watching wet races, it adds a lot of unknowns to the equation. One of the big unknowns was how the cars will work on the Pirelli wets and intermediate tires as the teams have done little or no testing on them.

A beautiful Austin Healey 3000

And today delivered, I’ve no idea when there was a race as full as this one. Today was why racing can be so special. It was a absolute top drawer drive from Jenson Button, 21^st and dead last to top step of the podium. Being in the wonderful position of having no real skin in the game I was able to sit back and enjoy the spectacle that unfolded in front of me.

This has been a great Grand Prix weekend, Montreal is a city that totally embraces this race, and downtown hums every evening over the weekend. I was lucky I had invites to a couple of events, but even without that there is so much going on. Boredom is never an option in this city. ”’i just wish I’d had the energy to keep up with the parties, receptions and events that I got invites too.

Overtaking in the Ferrari Challenge support race

The race was stopped after 30ish laps due to rain, it was coming down so hard and from my seat at the second hairpin there was no cover. I had a couple of options on where to watch from and for me this is the pace to watch a F1 car in action. Braking from 305KPH to 50 and then accelerating through the gears as it pulls away. Add a wet track to the mix and the braking zone became a very exciting place to watch.

Tifosi, but with a French accent

It took a little over two hours before the race restarted, I think they were a little too conservative, most of the standing water had been removed and the rain had stopped.

Prior to the restart I moved a grandstand after the final chicane. Mostly because it was under cover, a little late as I was soaked through, but it provided a wonderful spot to watch the race unfold with so much happening right in front of me.

Vettel in another really pretty Austin Healey

Where I ended up had the England-Spain game from the UEFA U21 championship on TV, at half time the TV got switched back to the race channel and we were off again. Unfortunately it was behind the Safety car, but after two hours all I cared about is we were going again..

The race went green and almost immediately it drying out and once someone showed the switch to intermediates was a good idea everyone would go. Four laps later everything started to happen.

Petrov

Alonso was high centred after a coming together with Button (who was having a busy afternoon). This brought out the safety car once again, and Button came in for his fifth stop of the afternoon. He left with a new wing and fresh rubber. Alonso was out and Button was dead last of the 21 cars left running.

Nearly everyone took the opportunity to come in after the Safety car left to change from wets to intermediate tires.

Rosberg after spinning out, a long way from the track

A fantastic battle was emerging for seconds between Kobiayashi (really good in the wet, lost time as it dried. Japan may be yet to produce a world champion, but Japanese drivers all know how to drive in the wet), Massa and Schumacher. Schumacher looked excellent and went from fourth to second just before everyone decided pretty much en-mass that it was time for slicks.

There was enough of a dry line that emerging that slicks were the right decision and were worth an immediate 3-4 seconds a lap advantage. Schumacher looked like this may be the comeback race that will show he is still to be reckoned with. He went for it on slicks, showed flashes of what we expected when he came back last year, and looked especially good under braking.

Rosberg, Button, Schumacher

Another safety car closed everyone up again, this was turning into a very fun race with so much going on up and down the field. Out front Vettel looked comfortable, he was a happy 5 or 6 seconds in front and seemed to be able to keep that distance what ever happened behind him.

Most notable, Button went from 21^st to fourth in about 20 laps and was not done yet. Webber made a mistake and Button took third and shortly afterwards took care of Schumacher as they crossed the start line. Schumacher on the dry line and Button deep into the damp part of the track with the DRS deployed. It was brilliant, brilliant stuff from Button, taking huge risks going onto the damp track looking for the opportunity.

Vettel and Alonso behind the safety car

There were 4 laps left, Button was second, taking significant time out of Vettel every lap and the German was unable to respond. On the penultimate lap Vettel made a huge mistake and had a big tail out moment (not sure where, second chicane maybe) that gave Button the chance he needed to take the lead.  I think Turkey last year was the last big mistake I can think of from Vettel, considering how dominant he’s been since then that’s remarkable.

This was a great individual drive, not in a “Senna at Donnington – genius at work” way, but because anything could have happened today. That Sunday at Donnington we watched a master in control, today was an inspired drive by Jenson Button, but one full risks. He got a little luck to go his way (and a mistake by clearly the best driver in the sport) and made the best of it. I don’t mean to diminish what Button achieved, as he drove a great race and must be very satisfied with his drive, it was a privilege to watch.

Barrichello, Kobiayashi

This is one of the most memorable races I’ve ever seen in 25 years of following the sport, and not just because I was there. This contained everything a great sporting moment needs, drama, unpredictability, someone riding their luck a little and producing something spectacular from it.

I was soaked to the skin, and I mean soaked. Even my wallet was saturated, I just hope the camera starts working again when it dries out.

Heidfeld, De Resta, De La Rosa

Time to head back to the hotel, dry out and think about dinner tonight. Wet races are unpredictable, and today was no different. That was an outstanding race, and England came back to draw 1-1 with Spain. Thank you to Brian, Joel and Sue for the tickets. This was a great weekend of racing. I love this sport.

Oh yeah, one last thing, it started sheeting down with rain again a few minutes after the race finished.

So today was final practice followed a couple of hours later by qualifying. A very interesting day at the track. Vettel looked good, easily leading the practice session and took a fairly comfortable pole by almost two-tenths of a second.

Ferrari (and their thousands of supporters) must be content with their speed this weekend. A little distance behind Vettel, but clear of everyone else.

The practice session ended early when Sauber driver Pedro de la Rosa (who will be buying a lot of mechanics dinner tonight) brought out the red flag right at the end after damaging both the front and the back of his Sauber exiting Turn Four. It was clear early that the McLarens were off the pace this morning, taking fifth and sixth, and well over a second off the pace.

One note, Mark Webber never took part in the morning session after problems with the car.

Then to qualifying and times were not for credit. The Q1 session (to get the top 17) threw up a couple of surprises, the HRT have been (relatively) quick this weekend, both drivers qualified comfortably and for once was not bottom of the timesheets, that honour went to Jerome D’Ambrosio’s Virgin. Liuzzi had a big spin in Q1, but ended up 21^st (out of 24) and the team seemed very happy with having both cars in the race.

Best of the new boys was Lotus (as usual), but still a little space to make up with the rest. Jaime Alguersuari was the last driver not to make it to Q2, the team has looked good at times this year and this is about where he’s been all weekend (I love having the printouts, makes it easier to compare).

After Q2 it was the usual suspects, Red Bull, Renault (paint looks even better up close), Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes all made it through to the final qualifying session.

This Q3 session does make great TV and today worked well live. It’s a very exciting five minutes with drivers clearly driving right on the edge in the hunt for pole.

Vettel really did look in control and knew what he had to do, and did it. He does make it look effortless and that’s the sign of a great driver. And unlike that “other” German actually seems to have a personality.

Alonso won the battle between the two Ferraris, beating Massa by a tiny 18-hundreths of a second. Alonso’s final lap was on the monitors at the track and he looked like he gave it everything to claim P2. Great stuff to watch.

Mark Webber was fourth, while McLaren and Lewis Hamilton were disappointed with only fifth. Nico Rosberg was sixth, Button seventh ahead of Schumacher. There is a significant gap between these drivers and the top three.

I get the feeling McLaren fancied their chances this weekend; they are off the pace and seemed rather mystified as to why.

Qualifying behind both Red Bulls and Ferraris was unexpected. A lot of people felt this was the weekend they track were supposed to start to make up ground and the ultimate pace is not close. Tomorrow is race day, nothing counts for points yet, but there were a lot of worried looks on the faces of the McLaren engineers this evening as they try to work out a solution.

The biggest question is what’s the weather going to do. The forecast is for showers tonight and through out tomorrow. That will make for a very difficult and unpredictable day for all.

What ever happens it’s going to be fun tomorrow. All by itself the noise of 24 F1 cars live is earth shatteringly incredible. Tonight is a reception and once again I will use the trouser press for something other than making toasties…

Time to leave the track, back to the hotel and nap time!

Made it to the track for the afternoon practice session. It was stopped a couple of times for accidents, but it ended with Alonso fastest, almost 0.369 seconds ahead of Vettel. Massa was third, Ferrari must be happy with that, even if in reality it means very little. McLarens are fourth and fifth, while di Resta ends a creditable sixth.

Good gosh it’s fun to hear F1 cars being driven in anger again. Very much looking forward to qualifying tomorrow when drivers start to push a little harder.

Big thank you for Brian for the tickets and invite to dinner tonight, time to press my trousers and put on a clean shirt . But first it’s nap time for an hour or two.

I’ve stated a couple of times that I thought the 2010 F1 world championship was a classic; even with a little distance between the racing and us I still think it deserves the overused “classic” label.

In the end I’m still not sure if Vettel won it, or Ferrari and Alonso conspired to loose it at the death with a bizarre strategy. There is a difference.

It was a great championship with five drivers winning races and the championship lead changing as teams fortunes strengthened and wavered over the long season.

However, Vettel dominated qualifying and was unquestionably the fastest driver over a single lap. It’s hard to argue that he was not a worthy champion. He made a significant number of errors, was occasionally a little impetuous and this cost him points that could have wrapped it up before Abu Dhabi.

I’ve been thinking about my personal highlight, and there were a number of great drives during the year, but for me it was Lewis Hamilton’s drive at Spa. In part because I was lucky enough to be there and because changing weather adds a whole new dimension to the sport. Hamilton is clearly a smart driver able to read the conditions backed by a team that will aid him in taking advantage of that.

For the true rain-master see Senna at Donnington in ’93. The best drive certainly I’ve ever seen and I don’t think it’s hyperbole to call it one of the best drives in the history of the sport. At one point Senna had lapped then entire field.

Back to Spa, through a very dodgy decision by the stewards a couple of years ago he had a win taken away from him. The race gods owed him and this year they made it even. It was a stunning drive, wonderfully controlled aggression mixed with adapting to the “dry/wet/damp/wet maybe” conditions.

That afternoon Hamilton showed a maturity that’s perhaps been missing in the past.

The conditions were challenging and it was a race when mistakes were easy to come by (Alonso finding the wall and Vettel finding Button), and luck (Button being taken out) was given out a little more sparingly.

Lewis Hamilton led from the start, impressively too. Then everything changed when it began to rain, it poured for a couple of laps and he nearly threw it all away in the gravel at Rivage.

The front of the car just grazed the wall and he got away with a huge moment. He kept on going over the compacted gravel and just about made it back onto the track.

Despite this he kept his lead over the impressive Robert Kubica in the Renault and Mark Webbers fast Red Bull, but the lead was much reduced and he had to be perfect from then on, and to his credit he was.

It was an awesome afternoon of racing, the conditions changed and the teams calls on tires and settings played a huge part for all the drivers. It was one of those weekends that make the sport so interesting, the unpredictability and rain made it a fun race to watch.

The question now becomes, which races will to attend in 2011? Unfortunately it won’t be my first choice of Monza, but maybe Montreal. Valencia would be nice and Suzuka would certainly convenient for Nagoya… We’ll see, but I will be going somewhere I’m sure.

As the 2010 F1 season has gone on I’ve come to like the current Q3-Q2-Q1 knock out qualifying system more and more. The tension ramps up nicely to the 10-minute shootout in Q3 for the top10 on the grid.

Abu Dhabi was a fascinating final qualifying session. There was none of the waiting until the last moment for Vettel, he went out early, set a very fast time and made it clear to everyone who was the guy to beat today.

Hamilton did something simular, he set an early time that he was unable to better. Both McLarens were consistently quick through out qualifying and Button lines up fourth.

Alonso was struggling down in 6^th early in the session, his last chance lap was started with just a couple of seconds left in the session was enough for third. His comment at the presss conference was “just one more day of perfection needed.”

The biggest looser today was Mark Webber. He could do no better than fifth, he needs a good start tomorrow.

Abu Dhabi Grid

I have just enjoyed an entertaining Italian GP while sitting in a bar in Salt Lake City airport on a Sunday. Which to be clear, is not a sentence I’d ever have thought I’d relay.

I asked for one of the TV’s to be turned over to catch the last half of the GP before catching my next flight. By the time the GP ended there were maybe a dozen people enjoying the race between flights.

Fernando Alonso said winning the Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari “It’s something only really to compare with the Spanish Grand Prix victory in 2006.” Surly an understatement, drivers I’ve ever met has felt that winning at Monza in a Ferrari would be the absolute highlight of their career.

This was Alonso’s first season with Marinello team and his third win of the year. With Vettel finishing fourth, Weber in sixth and Hamilton DNF’ing the title race has been thrown wide open once more after being given a little clarity in Spa.

Button claimed second (just under three seconds behind Alonso) after a great drive. He led a significant part of the race from the start. Alonso took over the lead with a quicker stop for tires and better in lap.

Massa was a comfortable third just behind Button. He was close, but never quite quick enough to worry the McLaren driver.

Vettel was fourth and Weber sixth, the two Red Bull drivers were unable to keep up with the top three. They looked closer in qualifying than they did in race trim.

In between the two RB was Rosberg in the first of the Mercedes. Schumacher was well beaten once again this weekend by his teammate and finished ninth. I’m surprised by Schumacher’s lack of pace throughout the season. Over the last few outings he’s typically been a lot close to Rosberg than this weekend.

Schumacher has publicly written off 2010 as a learning year. With Ross Brawn running things and both drivers under contract for next year it will be interesting how the off season goes for the team. I don’t imagine Schumacher will tolerate a repeat of this year where both the package and the driver were not quite there.

Williams had another good weekend as the best of the real privateers, both cars finished in the points with Niko Hulkenberg showing why he so sought after over the closed season. He took part in a great battle for sixth between Weber, Kubica and himself.

Now the circus heads off to Singapore in two weeks. Conventional thinking says this is a track the favors the Red Bull cars over the Ferraris and McLarens, but all three teams have been working hard to find something extra for the remaining races that are all over “slower”, more technical tracks.

Ferrari had an awful showing two weeks ago on a track that should have suited them rather well. Today they did very well, Hamilton retiring after tangling with Massa early on helped. If Alonso wants the chance to really take this championship the team has to be consistent.

The result today has significantly tightened up the points championship. There are 24 points between the top five drivers in the championship. With five races and a maximum of 125 points available it really is as good as I’d hoped it would be. Lot’s of opportunity for both drivers and teams to make this their year.

Final word to Alonso “In 2007 [when he won for McLaren at Monza] there were not very nice words because I was in McLaren fighting Ferrari. But here now it is very different, this welcome and support by everyone is great and Felipe (Massa) and me. We had a fantastic weekend.”