Seabastian Vettel, more like sailed away in the distance while Lewis Hamilton held together a crumbling car and a steely Vitaly Petrov brought up the rear ahead of the rest of the field, on Sunday. Alonso and Webber mystified one another with varying tyre strategies while Button and Massa fought it out with Jenson receiving a drive-thru penalty and 6th place for his troubles and Felipe sliding down the order to 9th with one tyre stop too many. Rooking Perez finished 7th in the points for Sauber ahead of his team-mate Kobayashi, while Schumacher and Rosberg were both punted out and their cars damaged. The other Seb Buemi put in a strong drive too and grabbed the last point in 10th ahead of Sutil, Di Resta, Alguersauri, Heidfeld, Trulli and D'Ambrosio.
A good first outing in 2011 and an enjoyable event. Really looking forward to Malaysia and more performance being extracted from the cars, as only the Red Bull looked hooked up, even without KERS. McLaren had flashes as did Mercedes and Ferrari and who can not notice the Lotus Renault. Nevertheless, Malaysia will challenge the teams in new dimensions and the racing will evolve. Early days, yet DRS and KERS looked pretty solid and useful. Interesting to watch and certainly exciting for the drivers and with plenty of permeatations and application points.
Great job again in Australia, and hopefully, they will continue with the wonderful race they host. Congratulations to Seb Vettel and Red Bull Racing for the commanding win. An ominous sign? And to Vitaly Petrov drive of the day, stepping up in the absence of Robert Kubica. Great morale booster for all around. Good hustle from both Jenson and Lewis, and Michael and Nico, as well. Competitive driver pairings that will spur the competition all year long. Plus, the cars sound great too!! To more excitement upcoming in Malaysia. Bring on the heat!!
Indeed, thank you denny, and to all then. Well, Bahrain, what can we say? We'll see. Off to Oz for the opener instead. So, goes the lucky seven over to the nine, and who drives car nine, eek, Robert Kubica, well did, and now Nick Heidlfeld -- and who both had strong moments in testing. As did Rubes, Vettel, Massa and Schumi too. As well the Pirelli tyres are clearly different from the Bridgestone's and there is also a definite engineering challenge at adapting and maximizing the characterstics of the tyre.
That's quite a lot to figure before adding the moveable rear wing, FIA prescribed usage zones, the return of KERS, and almost maybe more races then ever in a season, all promising to make F1 2011, the Year of the Ultimate Multi-Tasker.
Which also, in purely unscientific terms throws all past certainty to the stars and the lucky shining brightly dimming cosmos of it all. Favouring the veterans would seem natural especially multi-pitstop legends, Reubens and Schumacher. Massa as well, as we have seen, who is very fast and "coachable" by his engineer Rob Smedley. Not to mention, long-run specialista Jenson Button and even Adrian Sutil. (???)
As well, dark horse fave Nick Heidfeld sitting in for Robert Kubica. LRGP may have something with their blown floor, a la Brawn in 2009, and could bag a bunch of points before anyone can make any significant improvements to their own rides.
Fact is, all teams are in the same predicament, due to the flyaway races at the start of the season before returning back home to Europe. Another test session slotted in before Australia will help everyone get their package just right for Melbourne.
Then it will be time to see what it all really means when it matters most. Until then, who do you think is going to be a contender this year for race wins and the title?
Look forward to your thoughts and feedback.
F1 2011 is going to be interesting, without doubt.
Greetings all, Happy New Year! Welcome to the new members! Seven more weeks to the beginning of it all, in Bahrain. Exciting times! Schumie will race the Merc # 7 in 2011. Vegas baby! Also, seven related, this is F1QA.com's seventh birthday. Hurrah!!Thanks to all who knew us back when we were a humble news and photo site, before we became so 'grown' up. Stayed tuned for more exciting developments here at F1QA and in F1. 2011 will surely be a season to remember. Catch the enthusiasm at F1QA.
I agree, as to having mixed feelings about Vettel's triumph. Not that he isn't a worthy champion, which he is and Congratulations! But, while the others were trying to win it, challenge or vie for it, Vettel focused on being fastest. An odd concept in this day and age of F1 that fittingly also allowed him to snatch away the victory that everyone else was trying to win and in the confusion, take the title.
Unlike 2009, when all had been decided and Abu Dhabi was like a fun end of term meet, this year with the pressure on, Abu fizzled... Spectacularly underwhelming.
So like last year then, the title was really clinched in Brasilia. Afterall, Webber crashing out in Korea essentially put him back never to recover and with Seb storming to victory in Sao Paulo, it's surprising more people didn't see it coming.
We F1QA pollsters certainly didn't, with Vettel in 4th place, Hamilton 3rd, and Alonso and Webber in a even-stevens lead. Most others thought similarly...
Then was it a perception that Vettel's misfortunes seemed more harmful to his hopes than the others did? Was he 'too' young, inexperienced, not ready, etc.
Or, did the media position the Webber, Alonso, Hamilton and for a while Button, fight as a more interesting circulation foddering and away from the quieter and, now clearly, more methodical approach of Seb Vettel to be merely the fastest.
Well, those in the know, don't call him 'baby-schu' just because he's also German. The so-called 'boy in a hurry' has been refining his methodology for some time now.
Those in the know at F1QA, have been calling him 'the future' for some time now too. Being lucky enough to watch him devastate the field at a soggy Monza in 2008, I could not disagree with them, yet even his 1st win was phantom-like and surreal.
Unlike when Raikkonen pipped Alonso and Hamilton to the title in 2007, many that year were supporting Kimi while the McLaren duo ruined each others chances. With Kimi triumphing all seemed satisfactory and logically conclusive in the best outcome.
In 2008, when Hamilton barely crossed the line in 5th place to squeak the title away from Felipe Massa, everyone just said "That's racing!". Button in 2009, and Brawn, they had the better car early on, exploiting the diffuser and "that's racing." Tellingly now, Jenson had been one of the first of the 20 year-old wunderkinds in F1 and ten years later there he was, with his happy Dad, a British World Champion.
Though Seb Vettel 2010 World Champion, still, a bit surreal and phantom-like. In this day of over-engineered competition, cars that can't follow each others and circuits where you can't pass, Sebastian thows a wrench into the algorithms. An other-wordly presence like Senna had, Prost, and for while Schumacher as well, although the majority of his victories were against lesser mechanical challengers.
Yet, for a spell, especially the years he lost to Hakkinen, Schumacher was right there, honing his craft before unleashing those remarkable victory seasons at Ferrari. Again, by systematically engineering and perfecting the concept of being fastest. Forget racing, that rarely happens in today's F1. It is now a test of pace.
Even in 2010, with re-fueling banned, drivers usually pass more with a pit-stop then on the track. Abu Dhabi being a rare exception (with no passing at all), for Alonso and Webber, although they were nowhere against Vettel on the day, anyway.
All year Vettel was criticized for his race-craft and technique, and for perhaps being a touch wilder than the rest. Well, it now seems, he is touch faster than all the rest too and the criticism was more a case of sour apples than anything to the contrary.
So, congratulations to Red Bull, for being Constructors Champions without being automobile constructors and for grooming a racer who only wants to be the fastest, and to sticking to their plan, through thick and thin, while the others lost the plot.
'The future' looks optimistically bright and someday all of this will make more sense beyond "the kid's got wings!" For the time being, take time to enjoy the change. Looking forward to an equally exciting and interesting 2011 F1 World Championship.
The Russians are coming. Marussia commits long-term to Formula 1 as company takes ‘significant stake’ in Virgin team. Calling it Russia's F1 team though, may be a bit wide of the mark, despite the 'big' money. Someone may want to read the agreement, again.
How about Brazil? Great lead-up, festive atmosphere, rain-affected qualifying and then it all went downhill. Nico 'I may be replaced by a pay driver' Hulkenberg takes pole, Button is nearly car-jacked, Sauber engineers 'lose' their computer and Bernie makes light of it all, classic.
Then at the start Hulkenberg leads the race for about 100 metres, Vettel, Webber and finally Alonso stream by, I fall alseep on the couch, and by the time I wake up, Vettel is taking the chequer with Webber 2nd, Red Bull is constructors champion, 3rd place Alonso is in the cat-bird seat and now we're left with one more to go.
Not quite like the Brazil of the past few seasons, yet nonetheless, pivotal.
Abu Dhabi though is the perfect finale circuit, rising like an 'RAI TV Grand Hotel set' out of nowhere in the middle of the sand, complete with an underground pit exit, a collossus Ferrari emblem, and a dusky, roadside rest stop with a marina, and carnival cruise ship, amusement park ambience.
Encompassing a sampling here and there from all of the features the Championship visits throughout the year while in a representation that is unique and solely of its own. Completely. As will be whoever triumphs and wins the World Driver's Championship in this most interesting and enjoyable of seasons, 2010.
The F1QA pollsters are favoring Alonso, but Webber is only a percentage point or two back, with Vettel distantly rated, as the battle background of differing philosophies will also be decided. Whether, to manipulate or not to manipulate.
That is the question: 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer...
