2012 F1 SEASON
Welcome to my 2012 race analysis. Here you will find some of the most subjective reviews you will ever see. Without any further ado, here is round 1 - the Australian Grand Prix.
ROUND 1 - AUSTRALIAN GP
Wow, a brilliant weekend, much better than I could have expected. It's so amazing that lots of cars seem to be very close in performance, leading to lots of drivers being able to be competitive. This is fantastic stuff, and looks like 1997 all over again!
Now I'm going to try my hand at analysing the teams and drivers and their performances, and see how they compare to my pre-season predictions at this early stage:
Now I'm going to try my hand at analysing the teams and drivers and their performances, and see how they compare to my pre-season predictions at this early stage:
24.Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
There's not much to say that hasn't already been said. Just terrible. Well we know that bad cars allow good drivers to shine. If that is true, what is the conclusion for Massa? I think his struggles these last 2 years are because of Alonso, and also because since 2010 more than before, all (most) of the best drivers are in the best cars, and the driving standards are possibly now the highest ever seen, and that in truth, Massa never was on that kind of level - it's just that it's more clearly visible now.
23.Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)
Did a good job with what he had. And he has a good attitude about it too. Deserves a chance.
22.Bruno Senna (Williams)
Poor. Consistently 6 tenths off Maldonado. Started 14th when his team-mate was well in the top 10. I honestly have no idea what he was smiling about after qualifying. In the race collided with Ricciardo so it's hard to tell how that affected his car's performance. Didn't look like scoring points after that - whereas Ricciardo did. On a weekend when Maldonado almost took 5th, that just wasn't good enough. Hopefully will show some pace soon as I remain a (frustrated) fan.
21.Pedro de la Rosa (HRT)
A highly commendable job to get so close to the 107% time, having pretty much not driven the car until qualifying. He closed up on Karthikeyan's times and by the end of qualifying had exceeded them.
20.Charles Pic (Marussia)
A very impressive debut indeed given his extreme lack of running. In what must have been a high pressure situation, he didn't put a foot wrong and made it to the end as a classified finisher. There was little about him that was wild, yet his pace compared strongly with Glock's. Depsite being thrown in at the deep end, this guy swam well to reach his shore.
19.Timo Glock (Marussia)
Thankfully, the Marussia looks far more promising than anything that was produced under Nick Wirth. So Glock's motivation and performance can be expected to improve. Timo was praised after the race by team boss John Booth for the race-long running commentary he gave his engineers on the radio, all while driving. This shows a re-assuring level of interest and commitment to the cause from the lead driver. The team back at base are now poring over the masses of data generated for their new car, enabling them to gain a much-needed understanding of their fledgling machine in the short time until the Malaysian GP. Matching his best ever finish for the team of 14th, it was a great way to start the season for Glock.
18.Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)
A solid and impressive debut for this unnecessarily maligned driver. There was to be no repeat of the podium of last year of course. But Petrov appeared to settle in seamlessly to his new team, and proved capable of lapping close to Kovalainen, especially in the race where he followed, passed, then led his team-mate (who had developing mechanical issues) until his own retirement with about 20 laps remaining.
17.Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
On a weekend when more drivers shone than not, Nico Rosberg finds himself 17th on my rankings. Just didn't appear to do a lot with what he had, and looked soundly beaten by Michael. He would have qualified on a similar pace though, but the mistakes that spoiled BOTH his runs were of his own doing. Was overtaken by Vettel in the race, and spent the race going downhill, so much so that by the end he was struggling in 8th before losing even that to a puncture caused by contact with Perez.
16.Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)
The good news is that the Caterham team look to have closed the gap to pole by at least 1 second. The bad news is that everybody else has also made a leap forward. (Well, there is ONE team that's going up the creek without a paddle at the moment...) But this year still looks extremely promising even though they didn't come close to fighting in the top 10 as some asserted. The problem for Kovalainen is that he is paired with a team-mate who is under-rated just because he DOES have a fair bit of cash behind him. This means that when Petrov does beat him as he was doing in Melbourne, it makes Heikki look bad. Kovalainen was struggling with car problems throughout the race however, so lets hope the people that matter are aware of that.
15.Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
On the www.planetf1.com website, Andrew Davies judged Raikkonen to have proven more impressive than team-mate Romain Grosjean over the Australian Grand Prix weekend. I can only say it looks like someone is still living in 2009! Off the pace of his brilliantly performing team-mate, of all the team-mate comparisons, no two drivers contrasted as much in qualifying as the Lotus drivers. For while Grosjean stunned the paddock and pit-lane with 3rd on the grid (and 2nd in Q2), Raikkonen was to be found 15 places lower down in 18th!
This wasn't totally fair however, as Raikkonen had lost time on his best run in Q1. But even with an unhindered time it's hard to see how he would have matched Grosjean. In the race, Kimi pulled of some brilliant passing moves to finish up 7th. But he benefitted from others' issues and his actual pace didn't seem particularly great. He was no faster than the Saubers, as also shown by his fastest lap. To put it another way, Kimi started 5 places ahead of Perez yet only finished in front of him when the Sauber driver tangled with Rosberg.
I'm yet to be convinced by Kimi, and I've adopted an "I'll see it when I believe it" attitude to him. But given that this is his first race since 2009, he is actually looking very promising. His brilliant racecraft is especially showing an encouraging hunger. So to borrow his often-used phrase, "we will see..."
This wasn't totally fair however, as Raikkonen had lost time on his best run in Q1. But even with an unhindered time it's hard to see how he would have matched Grosjean. In the race, Kimi pulled of some brilliant passing moves to finish up 7th. But he benefitted from others' issues and his actual pace didn't seem particularly great. He was no faster than the Saubers, as also shown by his fastest lap. To put it another way, Kimi started 5 places ahead of Perez yet only finished in front of him when the Sauber driver tangled with Rosberg.
I'm yet to be convinced by Kimi, and I've adopted an "I'll see it when I believe it" attitude to him. But given that this is his first race since 2009, he is actually looking very promising. His brilliant racecraft is especially showing an encouraging hunger. So to borrow his often-used phrase, "we will see..."
14.Paul di Resta (Force India)
Another driver to have been rated ahead of his team-mate for Australia by www.planetf1.com despite the fact that Hulkenberg started 6 places ahead, and beat him in both segments of qualifying. The Force India proved to be a good car, but unfortunately so many teams have brought out very competitive cars that the Indian cars find themselves down the order, whereas the same performance throughout last year would have seen them as the 5th best team.
Therefore di Resta's race was quiet, and he only scored points because of the last lap chaos ahead of him. Having said that, the intelligence he showed in the way he saved up his KERS until coming out of the final corner to boost ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne on the run to the line was impressive.
Therefore di Resta's race was quiet, and he only scored points because of the last lap chaos ahead of him. Having said that, the intelligence he showed in the way he saved up his KERS until coming out of the final corner to boost ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne on the run to the line was impressive.
13.Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)
Given that Force India have produced what seems to be about the 8th or 9th quickest car, you would therefore expect Hulkenberg to qualify around 15th-18th. The fact that he made the top-10 shootout then deserves praise. Hulkenberg headed the more highly rated di Resta in both segments of qualifying which is why I've ranked him ahead. Sadly, that was as far as he got as he was the first to retire in the race, after precisely 1 corner as he made contact with Maldonado. Although it appears this was his own fault.
12.Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
If I had been able to know that Jean-Eric Vergne would qualify and finish 11th on his debut and just 0.8sec off 8th place, I would have thought that highly impressive indeed - and I still do now. Having proven very fast in Q1 he just missed the top 10 shootout, a tenth off his team-mate. A good start in the race was wasted as he was forced to take to the gravel avoiding the turn 1 mess. Holding 9th place going into the last lap, Vergne's inexperience saw him relinquish a place to team-mate Ricciardo a few corners from home before being dumped out of the final points-paying position by an inspired KERS boost from Paul di Resta. That wasn't pleasing, but it must be remembered that this was his first race. With a clean race, he had the pace to take at least 6th - as his eye-catching 6th fastest lap illustrated.
11.Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)
A fantastic Q1 effort saw Kobayashi take the fastest time, but he was unable to replicate this form in the 2nd segment, and was about the only driver to set a slower time than he had done in Q1 - to the tune of half a second. This put him just 13th on the grid. But as usual his racing was brilliant, fighting with drivers such as Raikkonen and Rosberg. He cannily took advantage of the last lap chaos to gain 3 places and open his season with a good 6th place.
10.Sergio Perez (Sauber)
It seems harsh indeed to rank someone who started 22nd yet got up to 2nd pretty early on in the race only 10th. The main cause of this is that penalty or not, he qualified behind Kobayashi by a few tenths/places. In the race he was brilliant. Consider that his car was not in optimal condition for the whole duration, having bumped into Kobayashi who was avoiding the turn one collisions. Then take into account that after all that he was running ahead of Kobayashi in 7th on the last lap. The contact with Nico Rosberg was entirely accidental and difficult to avoid with debris scattered across the racetrack at the scene of Maldonado's crash.
9.Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
Bumped to last at the first corner and having to pit for a new nose, Daniel Ricciardo set about racing his way back through the pack, proving to be the 3rd or 4th quickest man out there at times. The way he planned and executed his maneouvre on team-mate Vergne earned my admiration. All this despite the fact that his car was still handling a little off to say the least, and all delivered with a great and humble attitude.
8.Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
An under-rated driver, due to the cash injection he brings to William, Maldonado thrashed new team-mate Senna and was excellent in qualifying, and even better in the race, where he hounded Alonso for position on merit until his unfortunate last lap accident.
7.Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
Superb pace from car and driver. Proving quicker than Kimi throughout, qualified 3rd on the grid on his proper debut. We were robbed of seeing what he would have been capable of as a poor start made him vulnerable to the collision with Maldonado.
6.Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
An excellent performance, and had the measure of Rosberg. A great shame that we were unable to see what Michael could do, a a gearbox failure put him out early. Would likely have scored 5th.
5.Mark Webber (Red Bull)
The promise that Mark would bounce back from a disappointing 2011 looked to be fulfilled when he outqualified Vettel at Melbourne for the first time. However, one thing that hadn't improved was his race starts, and it was probably there and then that he lost the result to Seb. A nevertheless strong drive saw him take 4th finally eclipsing his 5ths that he had scored in 2011 for Red Bull, 2005 for Williams and 2002 for Minardi! Mark was just a short distance behind Vettel and Hamilton, safety car or not. So if he can keep his focus, he should not at all be written off.
Result: 4th
Grid: 5th
F.Lap: +0.251 (3rd)
Result: 4th
Grid: 5th
F.Lap: +0.251 (3rd)
4.Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
So much has been said of how people believe Sebastian Vettel can only win from pole, but people seem to underestimate that even if that is true (which I don't believe it is), it isn't anywhere near as easy as it looks, as Lewis showed by starting 1st, yet not only being beaten by his team-mate, but jumped by Vettel during the safety car too...
3.Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
How strange it was to see that the highest Red Bull car on the starting grid was only 5th, and it wasn't even Vettel, for he had been pipped by Mark Webber. This gave ample opportunity for Sebastian to get to work, battling not only the cars in front of him, but also the widely held perception that his racecraft and ability to mix it in the field are lacking. Though he benefitted from the retirements of Schumacher and Grosjean, and the safety car played into his hands enabling him to leapfrog Hamilton, 2nd was still a result that will go a long way to quelling the criticism. He also showed a quality of racecraft to match anyone in the way he took position from Nico Rosberg early on.
Result: 2nd
Grid: 2nd
Fastest Lap: +0.230 (2nd)
Result: 2nd
Grid: 2nd
Fastest Lap: +0.230 (2nd)
2.Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
On a day when Massa didn't look like scoring points, Fernando came home 5th. His consitency in that awful machine was brilliant.
1.Jenson Button (McLaren)
Has now totally slain the myth that he can only win in changeable conditions. After Japan last year where he beat everyone including Hamilton fair an square, now there's this, where Jenson beat Lewis in a straight fight in dry conditions to win. How muh more proof is needed? While cycling past a set of large billboards the other day, one showing Jenson for the new Sky Sports channel, I realised he has the look of a guy who is going to win the championship this year. Doing so would surely seal him a place as one of the F1 greats one and for all. If Mika Hakkinen deserves to be counted as one, then so should Jenson should he triumph this year. He is very serious about doing so, declaring pre-season that there are no excuses as he now has the car he needs. What confidence in his car!
ROUGH QUALIFYING FORM
1.Hamilton
2.Button +0.1
3.Grosjean +0.3
4.Schumacher +0.4
5.Rosberg +0.5
6.Webber +0.7
7.Vettel +0.7
8.Raikkonen +1.0
9.Maldonado +1.0
10.Alonso +1.0
11.Ricciardo +1.2
12.Kobayashi +1.2
13.Vergne +1.3
14.Hulkenberg +1.4
15.di Resta +1.4
16.Perez +1.5
17.Senna +1.5
18.Massa +2.0
19.Kovalainen +2.5
20.Petrov +2.9
21.Glock +4.
22.Pic +5.
23.de la Rosa +7.
24.Karthikeyan +7.
2.Button +0.1
3.Grosjean +0.3
4.Schumacher +0.4
5.Rosberg +0.5
6.Webber +0.7
7.Vettel +0.7
8.Raikkonen +1.0
9.Maldonado +1.0
10.Alonso +1.0
11.Ricciardo +1.2
12.Kobayashi +1.2
13.Vergne +1.3
14.Hulkenberg +1.4
15.di Resta +1.4
16.Perez +1.5
17.Senna +1.5
18.Massa +2.0
19.Kovalainen +2.5
20.Petrov +2.9
21.Glock +4.
22.Pic +5.
23.de la Rosa +7.
24.Karthikeyan +7.
ROUGH RACE PACE
1.Button
2.Vettel +0.1
3.Hamilton +0.1
4.Webber +0.2
5.Grosjean +0.6
6.Raikkonen +0.7
7.Maldonado +0.9
8.Ricciardo +0.9
9.Schumacher +1.0
10.Alonso +1.0
11.Perez +1.2
12.Vergne +1.2
13.Rosberg +1.2
14.Kobayashi +1.3
15.Hulkenberg +1.5
16.Senna +1.5
17.di Resta +1.6
18.Massa +1.9
19.Kovalainen +2.7
20.Petrov +2.7
21.Glock +4.6
22.Pic +6.
23.de la Rosa
24.Karthikeyan
2.Vettel +0.1
3.Hamilton +0.1
4.Webber +0.2
5.Grosjean +0.6
6.Raikkonen +0.7
7.Maldonado +0.9
8.Ricciardo +0.9
9.Schumacher +1.0
10.Alonso +1.0
11.Perez +1.2
12.Vergne +1.2
13.Rosberg +1.2
14.Kobayashi +1.3
15.Hulkenberg +1.5
16.Senna +1.5
17.di Resta +1.6
18.Massa +1.9
19.Kovalainen +2.7
20.Petrov +2.7
21.Glock +4.6
22.Pic +6.
23.de la Rosa
24.Karthikeyan