Bloody summertime!
So it was vaguely in my mind that the clocks must change sometime soon, being the end of March and all and I kept meaning to check, as you do. More important last night was checking the start time for coverage of the Australian GP and thus figuring out race start time and deciding if I wanted to drag myself out of bed in order to catch it live rather than repeated at lunchtime. I decided that if I did drag myself up at 6am I could collapse with a duvet on the sofa and snooze through the pre-race build-up and I could always go back to sleep again later.
Made it downstairs and got the telly on to see cars wandering slowly round the track and figured it was probably the warm-up and bugger the BBC for not mentioning they'd foregone the hour's pre-race coverage. Only I had this niggling thought, and checked the Sky on-screen display ... 07.10 and yes, lap 3 of 58. Bugger. All I can say is, thank goodness for safety cars and wet starts! because I missed the start (of which there were multiple replays during the race) and the accident that brought out the safety car but not really much actual racing at all.
I'm quite stunned really that I thoroughly enjoyed the second GP in a row. I've become so attuned to the boring processions of the last few years that this is a real revelation. I think the difference is in the loss of refuelling. When pit stops were more about refuelling than tyres and it was possible to gain places in the pit lane by shuffling schedules and timing the refuelling just so, then I think there was a tendency to rely on that strategy rather than fighting to get past on the track. Now that pit stops are only about tyres, yes, you can gain places in moving to fresh rubber at the right time, as Jensen Button proved today, but I think it's proving to be more about the traction those new tyres give on the track than just the timing. Witness the Hamilton fiasco - though I totally understand how and why it happened.
The fresh rubber seemed to make a clear difference in track speed and if everyone else had pitted then yes, Hamilton would have probably been past Kubica when he came out. But without the need to stop, it's not just catching, which Hamilton did a very good job of, but getting past. Unless the tyres are totally shot and giving no grip into and out of corners, well just because you can lap a second faster doesn't mean an automatic passing maneuvre is on the cards, as Alonso proved to Hamilton. Actually, given how much difficulty Alonso was having with holding his line in corners before Hamilton caught him, I do have to wonder how much of that final-laps-stalemate was down to Hamilton's belief (as he radioed) that his tyres were 'shot' once he got into Alonso's turbulence.
So, Button's win was totally deserved after his brave call to go to slicks before the track was completely dry. Vettel's retirement, well, I withhold judgement on that. Red Bull have a record of reliability problems but a really smooth driver puts less strain on his car, especially now that engines and gearboxes are expected to survive multiple races. Alonso and Massa gave solid performances and I suspect Ferrari are happy. It doesn't matter which driver is faster if he can't get past his team mate - hard cheddar, Alonso.
Schumacher. Damn shame that Alonso, who cut in on Button and thus caused the problem, got away practically scot-free while Schumy, going round the outside had to pit for a new nose cone and dropped from 5th (I think, going into that corner) to effectively last. After that, I guess I can see that towards the end of the race when, especially the less experienced drivers, haven't looked after their tyres as well he was able to pull out the pass and at least he got a point again, but I'm really hoping to see him in a position soon to be racing against the leading cars, not just facing up in qualifying laps. I still have faith in the Schumacher/Brawn partnership and I hope to see that blossom as the season progresses.
John Travolta. Um, okay. Kind of bizarre really. F1 has always been about people you've never heard of but who are CEOs of household names or government ministers etc. However much money or power they might have, on the podium they're non-entities because it's the drivers who are famous. I can see JT waving the chequered flag, he's a keen driver and racing enthusiast and actually from what I understand not totally full of himself. So, yeah, the occasional shot in the pits with the hosting team etc, fine. But presenting 2nd place trophy at the Australian, not US, GP? What is that? I actually wonder if that's the first time he's been on a stage in front of that many people who aren't there to see him at all and just wanted him out of the way for the champagne. I'm slightly surprised Button didn't give him a dousing. :)
And Lotus had another car finish. Nice one.
E.T.A. I note that Schumy with 9 points has 3 more than Webber, who's on 6 and 3 less than Vettel, who's on 12. Puts things into perspective a bit. ;)
Made it downstairs and got the telly on to see cars wandering slowly round the track and figured it was probably the warm-up and bugger the BBC for not mentioning they'd foregone the hour's pre-race coverage. Only I had this niggling thought, and checked the Sky on-screen display ... 07.10 and yes, lap 3 of 58. Bugger. All I can say is, thank goodness for safety cars and wet starts! because I missed the start (of which there were multiple replays during the race) and the accident that brought out the safety car but not really much actual racing at all.
I'm quite stunned really that I thoroughly enjoyed the second GP in a row. I've become so attuned to the boring processions of the last few years that this is a real revelation. I think the difference is in the loss of refuelling. When pit stops were more about refuelling than tyres and it was possible to gain places in the pit lane by shuffling schedules and timing the refuelling just so, then I think there was a tendency to rely on that strategy rather than fighting to get past on the track. Now that pit stops are only about tyres, yes, you can gain places in moving to fresh rubber at the right time, as Jensen Button proved today, but I think it's proving to be more about the traction those new tyres give on the track than just the timing. Witness the Hamilton fiasco - though I totally understand how and why it happened.
The fresh rubber seemed to make a clear difference in track speed and if everyone else had pitted then yes, Hamilton would have probably been past Kubica when he came out. But without the need to stop, it's not just catching, which Hamilton did a very good job of, but getting past. Unless the tyres are totally shot and giving no grip into and out of corners, well just because you can lap a second faster doesn't mean an automatic passing maneuvre is on the cards, as Alonso proved to Hamilton. Actually, given how much difficulty Alonso was having with holding his line in corners before Hamilton caught him, I do have to wonder how much of that final-laps-stalemate was down to Hamilton's belief (as he radioed) that his tyres were 'shot' once he got into Alonso's turbulence.
So, Button's win was totally deserved after his brave call to go to slicks before the track was completely dry. Vettel's retirement, well, I withhold judgement on that. Red Bull have a record of reliability problems but a really smooth driver puts less strain on his car, especially now that engines and gearboxes are expected to survive multiple races. Alonso and Massa gave solid performances and I suspect Ferrari are happy. It doesn't matter which driver is faster if he can't get past his team mate - hard cheddar, Alonso.
Schumacher. Damn shame that Alonso, who cut in on Button and thus caused the problem, got away practically scot-free while Schumy, going round the outside had to pit for a new nose cone and dropped from 5th (I think, going into that corner) to effectively last. After that, I guess I can see that towards the end of the race when, especially the less experienced drivers, haven't looked after their tyres as well he was able to pull out the pass and at least he got a point again, but I'm really hoping to see him in a position soon to be racing against the leading cars, not just facing up in qualifying laps. I still have faith in the Schumacher/Brawn partnership and I hope to see that blossom as the season progresses.
John Travolta. Um, okay. Kind of bizarre really. F1 has always been about people you've never heard of but who are CEOs of household names or government ministers etc. However much money or power they might have, on the podium they're non-entities because it's the drivers who are famous. I can see JT waving the chequered flag, he's a keen driver and racing enthusiast and actually from what I understand not totally full of himself. So, yeah, the occasional shot in the pits with the hosting team etc, fine. But presenting 2nd place trophy at the Australian, not US, GP? What is that? I actually wonder if that's the first time he's been on a stage in front of that many people who aren't there to see him at all and just wanted him out of the way for the champagne. I'm slightly surprised Button didn't give him a dousing. :)
And Lotus had another car finish. Nice one.
E.T.A. I note that Schumy with 9 points has 3 more than Webber, who's on 6 and 3 less than Vettel, who's on 12. Puts things into perspective a bit. ;)