This is the vehicle Mark Webber will pilot to the 2012 Drivers Championship, mark my words. Click the image for “Ludicrous” size.

Here’s a comparison of the new 2012 RB8 and the 2011 RB7

Answer: when you’re Vitantonio Liuzzi, the second best driver in a two driver team racing for HRT who’s cars are little more than mobile chicanes and you try to pull this stunt:

A wider angle from the rear shows he put a wheel on the grass in the breaking zone about 100m before the chicane and got all out of shape. For the record, you lose a lot of grip if you decide to leave the track.

Liuzzi, who usually qualifies last and is only “racing” for HRT as a last resort and will never be picked up by a competent team, was handed a 5-spot grid penalty for next weeks Singapore Grand Prix.

I mean penalising someone who qualifies dead last anyhow isn’t really a punishment. Yay stewards.

Fifth in Australia, fourth in Malaysia, third in China, second in Turkey. Mark Webber hasn’t lead for a single lap this year (Vettel has lead for 184, Lewis Hamilton is next on 16 or so which shows how dominant Vettel has been this year), but he’s on Pole for the start of Gran Premio de Espana Santander 2011 at Catalunya. I know where I’ll be in about 2 hours: glued to One HD watching the race!

It’s sad new indeed that Robert Kibica was injured in a crash in opening stage of the Ronde di Andora rally on Sunday. This article has most of the details. He has true grit and great determination and I’m sure he’ll race again but it will take him a while. The good news is that he’s out of an induced coma and can move his hand which was in danger of being lost.

Thoughts then turn to his replacement. My money is on Nick Heidfeld, who was a team mate of Kubica in the BMW Sauber team. Another option is Nico Hulkenberg who is currently a third string driver at Force India. Hey, he scored pole at Brazil in his rookie season but failed to keep his drive when he couldn’t bring sponsorship to the team.

Beyond these, desirable contenders are a little thin on the ground. Bruno Senna is a short term option, but he surely doesn’t rate as a primary driver. It’s a bit sad, because Renault feel they can make a good push on the championship this year with their new R31 and it seems Kubica was the only one who could make it happen.

It was Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend in Brazil yesterday. Due to the difference in time zones I wasn’t able to watch any of it live, but I did watch the qualification replay on Sunday afternoon and let me tell you it was one of the most entertaining and impressive qualifying battles I have ever seen.

Coming in to qualifying, we saw a mixed bag in practice with Robert Kubica posting the fastest Practice 3 time, but Vettel had the fastest time overall with a 1:12 in Practice 1. This is all pretty meaningless but can be a good indicator on driver mindsets and team improvements since the last race.

Q1 saw the usual suspects drop out, along with Adrian Sutil in the Force India. Sutil laid a lot of the blame on his teammate, Vitantonio Liuzzi who he accused of blocking him every inch of the way along the track. I’m not sure he was right and he probably should have found something else to blame in front of the cameras but at ultimately he found himself sitting out Q2.

The surprise of Q2 was defending world champion Jenson Button finding himself in P11, and watching another nail in his 2010 coffin being hammered into place. without a win this weekend he had no chance of remaining in contention for the championship.

And so the stage is set for the final showdown in Q3.  It had been wet all morning, but it was starting to dry up and Kubica was the first to fit slicks with 4 minutes to go and this is when qualifying just came alive. He suffered a little bit being the first, but everyone followed. Hulkenberg set a fast time and was mid range in P6 but as expected Vettel, Webber and Alonso bumped him down. Then Hulkenberg posted an amazing lap to take provisional pole. Everyone had at least one more lap and while they improved their own times, they were unable to beat Hulkenberg.  But Hulkenberg had one lap left and went round like a man possessed and managed to post an even faster time than his last hot lap. He just completely pasted everyone, and along the way did great things for his career and next years contract. It was amazing to watch.

All the other drivers (except Alonso, boo Alonso) congratulated him and you could tell it was all heartfelt and genuine. It was interesting and exciting, but Hulkenberg’s performance didn’t really have any bearing on the championship at this point and nobody lost out on anything because because he got pole and would get a clear track. One commentator said it was “a curve ball, but not a monkey wrench”.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be a fairytale for Hulkenberg, as duing the race he was overcome by Vettel and Webber before the end of the first lap. To his credit, though, he didn’t get lost in the moment and do something foolish like find the wall on the first corner. He succumbed to Hamilton and Alonso a few laps later and managed a respectable eigth.

Vettel ultimately won the race, with Webber second, Alonso third and Hamilton fourth. Button, who needed  a win to remain competitive, finished fifth. It was daylight to the also-rans with 20 seconds between Button and 6th place Rosberg.

Once the points were distributed, it still left Alonso in the lead but Webber took a small bite out of it. Vettel moved himself the third ahead of Hamilton:

That gives us a very exciting final round in Abu Dhabi next weekend as any one of these four can take it. It’s a long shot for Hamilton as he’d have to rely on a win and the other three not finishing but, as Hulkenberg showed in Brasil, anything is possible. For Webber to win the championship, he has to win Abu Dhabi and have Alonso finish no better than third. If Webber wins and Alonso is second, Alonso will win by one point. If Vettel wins, with Webber second and Alonso fourth or more then Webber will share the championship with Vettel which isn’t such a bad result. If anyone other than Vettel wins and Webber comes second, then he has to hope that Alonso finishes fifth (in which case Alonso and Webber share the championship) or worse (in which case Webber takes it).

Too bad Red Bull have no standing “team orders” like Alonso benefited from in Germany where Massa was told to let Alonso by with a few laps to go. The thing is he wasn’t told outright, but given an encoded message while leading along the lines of “Alonso is faster. Do you understand?” Nudge nudge, wink wink. This is illegal and shouldn’t happen and as we can see it becomes tremendously important towards the end of the season. So, here’s hoping for an Abu Dhabi win for Webber. In speaking to various fans it’s pretty obvious he’s the sentimental favourite. I’ll be glued to the TV next weekend from Practice right through to the chequered flag.

Related articles

• “Vettel wins Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull are Constructors’ Champions” and related posts (jamesallenonf1.com)
• Vettel wins in Brazil (sundayafternoonclub.blogs.topgear.com)
• Vettel wins Brazilian GP to keep title race alive (3news.co.nz)
• Red Bull 1-2 in Brazil leaves F1 title race wide open (cnn.com)
• Red Bull Crowned Constructors’ Champions, But It All Comes Down to Abu Dhabi (bleacherreport.com)

F1 is the greatest motorsport in the world. It’s fast, rich, sexy, glamourous and high tech. Based on any one of those attributes it beats the hell out of NASCAR. I have enjoyed watching it for 25 years. But does F1 need an overhaul?

Yes. And no.

The 2010 championship is currently as close as a championship has ever been. Red Bull-Renault, Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes are all serious contenders with Mercedes GP an outside chance. There’s nothing worse than seeing one team of two cars win every race by more than a lap. So the current balance of rules is doing something right in keeping it close and making sure that the champion will not be known until the end of the season. So there’s a valid argument against meddling with the rules; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Rule changes are introduced every year with the intention of improving the cars and making the racing more exciting and safer. The tech is expected to trickle down from the racetrack to the street, and indeed top of the line Ferrari sports cars make use of things developed in F1 that are now illegal on the track like movable wings. And turbochargers. The F-duct is a fantastic example of out-thinking the regulations and developing a system to alter the aerodynamics to give a speed advantage in the straights. Also, some teams have developed a flexible wing system that seems to defy the current static load tests but allows flex on the track which means they’re still legal because, hey, they passed the established tests. But I feel there’s too much reliance on aerodynamics in F1.

A serious attempt at taking the grip away from the upper aerodynamics and putting more of an emphasis on ground effects would definitely help. It would allow cars to run closer to each other. Currently, a car with front and rear wings is modeled on and runs best in clear air. The closer you get to a car you’re trying to overtake, the more you’re at the mercy of the turbulent air coming off it. Your front wing doesn’t work as well. This affects your grip, especially coming into corners where most overtaking is done. Allowing ground effects is one thing that would allow the cars to run closer together, and would allow more passing on track rather than in the pits.

If I was ever in charge of F1, and God willing it will only be a matter of time, I’d give each team two shells and as few design rules and regulations as possible. Hire the biggest engineering brains you can find and see what you come up with, working within a framework of some standardised aspects such as, for example, tyres. The only goal is to get around the track as fast as possible. I’m sure that even allowing ground effects and turbochargers in current F1 cars you could take 20% off the lap record of each track. I mean, when you sit down to a racing game, trying to build the fastest car possible to smash the track lap records is the most fun part of the game. Take the leash off design and you’ll see more innovations like F-Duct and KERS, new tech which can then be matured for street cars. You’d probably also need to hire drivers with no fear of death.

Thankfully, I’ll never be in charge of F1 and I think the current rules system almost has it right. Challenges such as restrictions to power could be introduced. Perhaps a small displacement turbo engine would be attractive and would make F1 more culturally and environmentally relevant. Whatever happens, I’m enjoying 2010 and hope that Mark Webber can keep is lead for four more races.

Image via Wikipedia

After work, I intend to immerse myself in some good old fashioned sports on TV. When I get home I’ll be watching the Fremantle Dockers v Saint Kilda AFL replay. Then I’ll flick between the Le Mans 24 hour race and the Algeria v Slovenia World Cup game.

Around midnight is when the fun starts, with the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix live from Montreal. I remember being in Montreal a few years ago for work during GP week, and I could hear the cars at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve from my hotel room across the river. I wish I had the money at the time to go and watch the race. I have a Google Wave set up ready to do some live blogging so I hope some fans join in. I did one a few nights ago for the South Africa v Mexico World Cup opener and it was great.

After the Formula 1 it’s the main event, with the big Germany v Australia World Cup game. That should take me through to about 4am. Luckily I don’t have work tomorrow. But in the afternoon I will be attending my son’s Kindy class as this weeks parent helper. I hope that I can pull it off without them all knowing I had no sleep the previous night!

One thing I’m happy with is that our kids have taken a keen interest in the World Cup games. Jett even does his African dancing at times which is just hilarious to watch.

This post is also serving as a test for a new blog content manager I’m trialling called Zemanta.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Lewis Hamilton claims pole position (independent.co.uk)
• F1 back at exciting Montreal after one-year hiatus (cbssports.com)
• 24 Hours of Le Mans link roundup (autoblog.com)
• Australia Braced For Toughest Cup Match, Says Neill (nytimes.com)

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