Nuff Said

From this PlanetF1 article :

".....[Massa's] race-ending spin was the result of driver error. It may not have been related to the absence of traction control, however. It's just as likely that it was the consequence of mental turmoil and an unstable union between the determination to keep pace with Raikkonen and the actual ability to do so."

And the annoying little twerp himself admitted his error as reported by Crash.net here.

What To Make Of Hamilton?

On the back of 3 successive podium finishes the media hails him as the next Schumacher. On the other hand, I'd urge a little caution before heaping such praise on Hamilton. The fact remains that on 2 out of the 3 races he's had so far, he's been beaten by his teammate. But nevertheless, Hamilton has exceeded my expectations and in fact he is a very solid driver indeed, I have to (grudgingly) admit.

Watching the two McLaren drivers in Sepang I was hard pressed to spot the differences in their driving styles. However, as Hamilton hounded Filipe Massa in Bahrain, I did notice one inescapable fact. He drives like a karter. He loves the edge of the track and takes a late turn in to the hairpin and clips a late apex. By comparison, Massa takes a much earlier turn in and tighter line. Hamilton's driving does in fact reflect Michael's early on in the great German's career. Lots of sharp turn ins, lots of brake lock ups.

Anyone who's watched him in the junior formulae will recognise that the almost cocky style of driving has been carried forward into Formula 1. In the GP2 last year, he was blindingly quick, at times up to a second faster than his rivals. When behind and chasing, he darts and weaves in a manner that leaves the viewer in no doubt of the man's confidence in his abilities and that of his car. It reminds me of his fellow Briton Nigel Mansell.

But confidence is certainly what he has in spades. That's how he's been able to handle the pressures and expectations. In fact, I believe he relishes the press he gets and the more he gets the more he thrives. Confidence. Thats what attracted Ron Dennis to him in the first place. In fact more than confident he's a little cocky to me. A bit like Michael I guess. If you can't see this on the track, you'll definitely notice it in the press conferences.

Let's not get carried away with the Schumacher mantle. There have been other drivers with impressive debuts as well. Have we all forgotten Juan Pablo Montoya so quickly? He too exploded into the scene with Williams and in the process gave Michael Schumacher a scare in only his second race overtaking Michael with such insolence and confidence in Sao Paolo. And like Hamilton, Juan Pablo also excelled in the junior formulae. Nick Heidfeld for instance can tell you how the Colombian simply blew him away in F3000. But now look where Juan Pablo has ended up. Quite a waste and potential unfulfilled.

But what Hamilton has got that Juan Pablo never had is a cool head, no doubt drummed into him under the tutelage of Ron Dennis. As I've said before, old Ron must be thrilled by the performance of his protege. But beat Fernando? I am as yet unconvinced. In time perhaps.

In the meantime, I wonder which rap artist will come up with a tune with the lyrics, "I bust a move like my name was Lewis Hamilton." Or something like that. And how long before Hamilton buys a Bentley slammed with 21 inch wheels?

Saturday Morning At Sakhir

How about that Super Aguri? Kimi Raikkonen may have topped the charts on Friday and today its Hamilton's turn but the surprise of free practise this Saturday must be Ant who managed 5th fastest time of 1m 32.900s. This was still some 0.357s behind Hamilton but still ahead of Filipe Massa who managed sixth fastest.

By contrast the two underachieving Hondas of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello managed 16th and 18th respectively, split by Ant's teammate Takuma Sato. Jenson Button was a little more than a second away from Ant and about 1.2 seconds quicker than Sato.

And this was the man who was considered surplus to the works team? For sure, this is merely the practise session and it doesn't count but come on. The big boys in the paddock must surely open their eyes and notice this!

Of the rest, championship leader Fernando has been slower than Hamilton all weekend long and the same thing has happened before when they tested here in the winter. God I hope he's not going to keep doing this in qualy and the race. I'm quite sick of the British press and their Hamilton suckfest.

But happily, Filipe Massa has been outpaced by Raikkonen in all the sessions so far and that is something new this year. Personally I hope this trend continues on.

The Beemers have looked threatening all weekend and are always in the top 5. The times are quite close in this last practise session. Just a shade over 1 second covers the top ten in this free practise. It should be quite a good qualy coming up in about an hour and halfs time.

The customer teams are once again doing very well thank you very much against their respective works teams.

Mark Webber's Red Bull Renault is once again ahead of the works Renaults. Oh, I can imagine the pain Flav is going through right now. A little pain wouldn't hurt the man after his cockiness in the past two (Alonso) years. His cars are back in ninth and tenth. Now if only Webber can do this in the race.

Both Nico and Wurz are in the Williams Toyotas have been outpacing the works Toyotas for most of the weekend except for first practise yesterday. I just hope all these customer teams convert their practise performances into factory beating exploits.

One thing's for sure the Hondas are going nowhere and I would imagine there is a good chance that both the Super Aguris will be heading the works cars to the chequered flag.

High Compression

Since 2001, in every other year I somehow find myself attending the Malaysian Grand Prix. Nothing will ever beat being in paddock in 2005 but nevertheless, I was persuaded to watch qualifying yesterday in the cheap seats. Cheap, hot and dirty it may be but sometimes, the best vantage points are from these less than glamorous locations.

So we ended up watching from the very highest spot in Sepang that is at the top of the hill at Turn 11. Its not my first time at this spot but the last time I was here we placed ourselves in between Turns 9 and 10 which in hindsight is not the best of spots. Sitting yourself so that the entry to Turn 11 is directly in front of you gives you a great view. You get to watch the action all the way from under braking for Turn 9 all the way to Turn 14 and a little bit of the back straight.

I hadn't planned on going to Sepang but at the last minute I thought what the heck. After all, I've never heard the scream of the latest V8s nor have I seen these new cars in action. I'm glad I did for every single time you see these cars in action, it just takes your breath away. I believe anyone who's ever had any time behind the wheel of any car on the track will have an even greater appreciation of it, particularly if you've driven the track that you're currently watching.

Turn 11 is not my favourite turn at Sepang. Its slowish in nature, the road seems to fall away from you and in a front wheel drive car, it feels like the car just wants to slide wide into the gravel. I've seen one chap who uses his left foot to tighten the line but all in all it just sucks. You really want to finish your braking and downshifts before turning in, so to see these grand prix drivers braking, shifting down and turning inside the corner is just simply amazing. The sheer grip these cars have is simply mind blowing.

All the while, I'm treated to that phenomenon I just absolutely love, the amazing sound effects. I just love the way those engines pops and bangs on the overrun under braking. Pop, pop, pop. It sounds like someone turned up the bass on the sound of 9mm gunshots. And of course once the cars are on the rumble strips on the exit of Turn 11 the traction control comes on and the engines goes into machine gun mode as the ignition is turned on and off by the electronics. Down the hill and as the drivers shift up and and once again, you truly appreciate how incredibly high the compression ratios are in these engines.

The amazement doesn't stop for whilst the rest of us will lift or brake before the fast turn 12, these guys keep the throttle constant and simply turn in. Whilst even the Porsche Carrera cup racers are sliding wide on the exit of this turn, the grand prix cars simply stick. Then they're hard on the throttle confident as you like through thirteen and poised for the trickiest turn in Sepang, Turn 14.

Everyone needs to turn and brake into this one because Turn 13 blends into 14 without any straight bits. Its sometimes downright dangerous during track sessions. A lot of people don't make it and end up ploughing straight into the gravel. Rear wheel driver cars get into a habit of spinning here. Added to that apex of Turn 14 is blind as you come up to it, so picking your turning and braking points are damned difficult.

Myself, I always brake either way too early and just way too late into this corner. The problem as I said is that you're coming up fast and flat through 13 and way too much on the inside. Probably not the best line but unfortunately normal cars just slide too wide out of 12 that you have very little choice. And at the same time as keeping the wheels turned, you need to find a good braking point through a blind apex. And the whole action unsettles the car and more than once I've felt the tail really move. Its scary but really you ought not to be too afraid because the run off is quite big.

But of course if you have a car with a couple of tonnes of downforce pushing it down things get a little bit easier. But as a spectator you cannot help but feel the awe as these guys simply attack 13 and 14 with abandon. From my vantage point you can tell they're flat through 13 and the cars then visibly slowing down and of course turning in, braking and downshfting at the same time. I wonder if these guys could still do that if they weren't using paddle shifters and semi auto gearboxes.

Quickest at this section? Felipe Massa for sure because he's quite smooth through Turn 11. His teammate Kimi by comparison is a little more aggressive and you can hear that he's on the traction control for longer on the exit of the corner. Mark Webber is aggressive as well, consistently kicking out the tail of his Red Bull in the turn. And so do the Toyotas. What surprises me though is just how similar the McLaren boys perform through the turn. If there's any difference at all between Alonso and Hamilton, well I can't really tell. Whatever it is, they seem quite smooth and quick.

At the end of the day, I'm quite glad that I went. Today I shall be watching from the comfort of home. Whilst I shall not be enjoying the live special effects but nevertheless, I shall be more aware of whats going on in the race. And of course there's instant replay. But getting a dose of live action reminds me again of what its all about and just why these guys and their cars are the world's best.

2007 Australian Grand Prix

The Steeles of the recently revived F1Talk feared a Ferrari domination this year. They may be right. The way Kimi Raikkonen quite serenely won the Australian Grand Prix is an ominous sign for the other contenders. Serene is perhaps the right word for this race because nothing much really happened. Unless you're English and are absolutely over the moon with Lewis Hamilton's debut.

As in qualifying yesterday, I would have liked to see how Kimi stands against Filipe Massa during a race. Yesterday the Brazilian experienced gearbox and engine troubles. Today, he was following a completely different strategy having to come from right at the back. Yes, Kimi managed to lap him during the course of the race. And that must have been a psychological blow to him. But it would have been interesting to see how Massa would have run under a normal race strategy.

Do I sound like I'm behind Filipe? Well, actually no. For I still think Kimi will beat him over the course of the year. I just hope though that Ferrari will let the both of them duel it out together come what may.

The other team that had any hope of matching the Ferraris were McLaren. But lets face it, Kimi was really toying with them today. Setting that 1m 25.235s fastest lap was just rubbing it into Ron Dennis' face. He didn't need to go anywhere near that lap time and he was still simply pulling away from the two McLarens.

Alonso or Hamilton? For pure speed I think there's very, very little to choose between them. They are both equally as fast. My word, this could be quite a driving partnership for Ron. They've both got long careers ahead of them. One is a double world champion, the other can match the former. One slip, and its easily one or the other. There is very little margin if today's performance is anything to go by. Still, Alonso's strategy was the better one. Yes, Sato got in the way but even if he didn't I estimate Alonso would still have come out ahead of Hamilton at the end.

The ITV commentators were over the moon with Hamilton but lets put things into perspective. The 2005 GP2 champion, Nico Rosberg also had a great debut in the first race last year. Somehow it seems the GP2 championship does prepare a driver quite well for the challenges of Formula 1. And why not? The GP2 cars do have some massive performance all without traction control and other driver aids. But the challenge for Lewis now is to sustain this performance and not fade away like Nico did last year. Although one could say that Williams did not give Nico a great car to show off his talents.

Can McLaren catch up? Well, if you look at their qualy performance particularly on low fuel they do have some pace. Its when the fuel goes in and the races progresses that they seem to lose out to Ferrari. I think McLaren will need to work very hard to get the best out of those Bridgestone tyres if they are to have a chance. On some of the tighter circuits however, I think McLaren have an excellent chance of besting Maranello. The Ferrari you see has a longer wheel base. Great on circuits where aero performance is all important. Not so great in some of the slower bits. Still I think for McLaren, optimizing the aero with the Bridgy tyres is the key. As for driving talent, the do not lack any.

The BMWs much touted long distance pace could eventually was not enough to sustain a challenge to the front runners. But nevertheless, they have vastly improved and I believe they will improve still further as the season progresses and they have a better understanding of the new Japanese rubber.

And I was somewhat disappointed that the Super Aguris could not beat the works Hondas during the race. But Sato beating Jenson was a nice thing to see. Nico Rosberg did well I thought beating both the works Toyotas to seventh ahead of "I'm one of the top three" Ralf Schumacher. The fact that the Toyota engined cars have had a years greater experience on Bridgestone rubber is perhaps one of the reasons why the Hondas simply could not get on terms with their deadly rivals.

Again, if there is to be a Ferrari domination of 2007 I hope the two teammates will put up a good show for the rest of us. Kimi did a supreme job of the race today bar the odd mistake whilst fooling around. It'll boost his confidence and standing with the team and I'm sure he's going to get even better still in the car.