Information on cities and circuits for travelling F1 Fans

Fernando Alonso starting second the favorite for his home race, by Bertho RF1

There has been talk of rain all week for Sunday at the Circuit de Catalunya:, though this now looks unlikely it is overcast and there’s a strong breeze: this is one reason why race performance may not reflect qualifying performance; a quickly evolving Barcelona circuit though is another.

Even in qualifying changing conditions caught out some, Button especially, and gave a grid that looked a little different from what we would have expected from practice: Hamilton had tipped teammate Button for Pole. The weather for the race could be such that a different set of drivers, those who struggled in qualifying, will find performance come to them in the race and with the amount of long run data from pre season testing and practice some drivers may have gone for a setup to suit the race more, Webber and Button fans will certianly hope this is the case for their drivers.

For Hamilton though he seemed to have a perfect setup for qualifying to initially get an outstanding pole, could the difference between him and Button be due to splitting stratgey for race and qualifying performance? Well Hmailton is now at the back of the grid having been disqualified from qualifying, he therefore gets in on the same basis as Karthikeyan for having posted a representative time in earlier practice sessions. Jenson too, in tenth now,  is further back than he would have expected even if he has compromised on setup.

Fernando Alonso has to be the favorite for the win and could become the first driver of the year to win two races, we wouldn’t discount Maldonado who is undoubtably fast but sometimes his race craft seems a little rough around the edges and he is accident prone. His starts though have often been good, though especially at Australia.

The Lotuses are now expected to win a race sometime this season but the next couple of races are likely to be their best chance as they may fall behind in performance as they did last year due to slower development than the top teams: Grosjean and Raikkonen start 3rd and 4th respectively. Having said this we expected the status quo to be resumed here in Barcelona with the top teams getting a march on their smaller rivals with less resources to spend on development: it seems though that that isn’t the case and with more potential in their cars some midfield teams may have jumped forwards as well; as have Marussia who now have a very nicely sculpted front wing.

The Saubers and the Mercedes don’t seem to have the pace to challenge for the podium spots though this could change in the race, even a short shower though could change things around and all but perhaps the top 4 will hope for this, Perez from a career best qualifying position of fifth especially may fancy a little rain. Vettel and Schumacher though having not set any times in Q3 have more tyres and a choice to start on, will the soft tyres have a big advantage though or will the tougher hard tyres actually be used for two or more stints with the softs only used once.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the Ile de Notre Dame photo by Abdallahh

Bernie Ecclestone seems to have moved on to putting doubts in to the future of the Canadian Grand Prix; he has done the same to Australia earlier in the season but now it seems that he wants something from the organisers of the race in Montreal and so is threatening the future of the race if they don’t update the circuit.

What effect Bernie has on the confidence of sponsors of races and how this threatens races and circuit’s ability to pay for track developments rarely seems to worry him but he does have a long stream of races wanting to join the calendar with new, Tilke designed, circuits.

Fans of course have different concerns and seeing some of the best and most exciting circuits such as Montreal removed is not what they want to see. Montreal is a fans’ favorite, has a lot of history and seems to be great for bringing people to Montreal. So hopefully the circuit will find the money to make changes, either that or it will turn out that Ecclestone’s threats are hollow, which often they are.

Bernie Ecclestone has gone as far as putting a price on the redevelopments for the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the Ile de Notre Dame in Montreal at $15 million (US) this would include replacing the 25 year old garages and extending the Paddock area, certainly jobs worth doing but are the threats needed?

The race’s promoter  Francois Dumontier thinks that the threats are premature and that putting a price on the work is also unnecessary as it is work being considered already. In either case the current contract lasts until 2014 so there is still plenty of time for work to be done, what may be more of a problem is the size of the paddock, already on floating platforms in the Olympic basin.

The Silverstone Wing, one of the BRDC's recent Silverstone developments that have left them with debts of around £12 million, photo courtesy of Silverstone Circuits Limited

Qatari investors who seemed likely to agree terms for a lease on Silverstone with the BRDC (who own the Silverstone Circuit through their company Silverstone Circuits Ltd) have it seems pulled out or simply been unable to agree terms, the British Racing Driver’s Club are therefore now looking elsewhere.

It had been reported last summer that the BRDC had already granted a 100 year lease for the Silverstone circuit, this would have been great news: potentially securing the future of the British Grand Prix and allowing for the development of the circuit to continue. It is now though clear that this lease is yet to be signed and the BRDC need to find funding urgently. The BRDC were talking with a Qatari based consortium for a deal worth reportedly £500million that would have covered the BRDC’s current net liabilities resulting from recent developments and allowed for ongoing development.

It now seems though that while the BRDC had been focussing on this Qatari deal there was another potential deal in the pipeline all along to fall back on and this deal is with an Anglo-American consortium backed by Richard Branson: this is of course far from some reports that the deal was solely with Richard Branson or his Virgin brand or that he was set to takeover or buy the Silverstone circuit.

The deal would see a lease granted to the consortium or whoever a deal is finally made with; the BRDC would remain owners of the circuit they bought in 1971, following a period of leasing it themselves. As owners the BRDC would reinvest money from the lease in to developing the circuit including the plans for a huge hill stand to greatly increase the capacity of the general admission area, this in itself would improve the financial viability of the British Grand Prix.

Should the BRDC be unable to find an investor for a lease either selling part of the Silverstone Circuit Ltd company that actually owns the circuit may be an option or even floating the company could be considered.

An island paradise the Dominican Republic, photo public domain

One of the few areas of the world never to hold a Grand Prix could soon be set to have one, and we don’t mean Russia that gets its Grand Prix debut in 2014, but the Caribbean and specifically the Domincan Republic it seems. If the first thing you think of when you think of the Dominican Republic is that they have Haiti as neighbours then this is why they want a Grand Prix to bring back tourists scared away by the political troubles across there border.

These talks of a Caribbean Grand Prix are slightly more than rumours as well with Danilo Medina, one of the front runners for next month’s Presidential elections, saying that if he gets elected he will ensure that Formula One comes to the island and that the government will pay the race hosting fees with private investment to be found to build a circuit. This is likely to go down well with Dominicans as the island has suffered from its loss of tourism and the hope would be that race fans would stay for a longer break.

If you are wondering about how yet another race is going to fit on the calendar don’t because it seems that 24 races on the calendar are now being talked about. The unofficial limit had been 20 with Bernie Ecclestone saying more were unlikely then he said he could see a 22 race calendar but not more and now it seems teams are discussing 24: and no doubt if their are countries with potential sponsors and where existing sponsors want to sell these races will join the calendar, great for fans, great for potential and current circuits and great for team’s finical directors but a headache for everyone else within the team perhaps.

A typical wet race at Silverstone in 2008, Photo by Ligreq

Unsurprisingly, given the option to take an extra test session mid season or wait until the season is almost over, ten teams have told Pirelli they will need tyres for a Young Driver’s Test to take place at Silverstone in July shortly after the British Grand Prix rather than at Abu Dhabi.

Only Red Bull and Toro Rosso will wait until the Abu Dhabi Young Driver’s test, perhaps showing their dedication to bringing young drivers through the ranks so that the Red Bull teams can focus on running young drivers without the distraction of gaining data for the second half of the season’s developments. There is also a potential to gain an advantage at Abu Dhabi testing next season’s tyres early, which Red Bull may have in mind; they may be even thinking about switching to development early and giving up on a title challenge in 2012?

Now for anyone wondering it has been confirmed that teams can still pull out of Silverstone’s young driver test, this is of course likely to be advisable if the rain pours down but it also means teams can keep their options open, importantly though once a car leaves the pits they have chosen to run at Silverstone and won’t be able to run at Abu Dhabi.

It will be interesting to see who drives at Silverstone in the Young Drivers test and there is a chance that someone like Gary Paffet or Marc Gene could be eligible and used by teams to get the most development out of their cars. Mclaren are already planning to run Gary Paffet at Mugello, alongside Oliver Turvey ,showing the faith they have in what they see more as development drivers than young drivers perhaps.

For other teams though the test will be a good chance to test drivers that some teams may even consider giving a race towards the end of the year if they are dissatisfied with a current driver and have seen enough at Silverstone to convince them a young driver is ready.

The Paul Ricard circuit, photo by Baptiste Vialatte

Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed to French Sports Paper L’Equipe that the French Grand Prix will be run in 2013 and a deal has been agreed.

It seems terms have been agreed though a contract may not be signed yet but Ecclestone told them that “We actually agreed on financial terms with the Sports Minister, David Douillet, in my office last Tuesday”; although it is belived that the Grand Prix wouldn’t be financed by the Public sector, it could be though that the government are making the fees available to be paid back later from gate receipts.

Bernie Ecclestone also made it clear that the race was not dependent on the outcome of the French presidential elections. He said that he would sign the contract “Before the result of the second round of presidential elections in France, if they wish. Whatever the outcome, I do not care”.

It isn’t clear if this means that the proposed bi-annual race share agreement with the Belgian Grand Prix has been completed now but the newspaper also confirmed that the race will be every other year at Paul Ricard circuit near Marseilles in South France.

Start of the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix , Photo Courtesy of LG EPR

The Bahrain Grand Prix could  still be cancelled and if it is at least there is no one team who would feel especially hard done by as Red Bull and McLaren both look to be in with a chance of victory and even Rosberg can’t be ruled out after last weekend.

Qualifying was thrilling though and as fans if the race is cancelled then we would be denied a potentially great race, in reality though it is probably too late for the race to be cancelled except in the most extreme circumstances; if the race was cancelled the revenge reaped on protestors could be severe according to many in the country and those who have knowledge of the regime and how they reacted last year when the race was cancelled.

So from practice we already knew that McLaren looked good on race pace and not on qualifying pace, at least compared to Mercedes and maybe to Red Bull. In qualifying though it briefly looked as if McLaren might be able to take the front row and certainly go faster than Nico Rosberg who blew it on his last run. In the last few seconds though we saw a good lap from Webber and a fantastic lap from Vettel with Hamilton only managing to split them. We waited for Button to come round to see if he would be able to do any better but he had already ditched his final lap and it was his earlier banker lap that counted for fourth on the grid, though still ahead of Rosberg.

Still most believe that McLaren should have a better race pace than the Red Bulls but we can’t be sure and don’t know to what extent: so the battle should be great including the battle between the Red Bulls themselves and potentially Button having to get past both before he chases after Hamilton assuming that the McLarens will be fast enough to and that things won’t change entirely in the first couple of corners.

Things can and probably will get tight in turn 1 so there is a lot of advantage of being up front and getting a good start. Vettel didn’t struggle with getting away and making a gap last season so it will be interesting to see how he gets on with less of an advantage. As for Webber he has started ahead of Vettel so far this season but still hasn’t been starting well so he could lose places or back things up so that Hamilton and Vettel get away while the midfield up to Webber bunches up.

Vettel and Hamilton have to be the two favourites for the win any way, we know they are both fast and it could be that the pace of the cars then will be all there is between them.

Further back Rosberg is looking to almost certainly beat his teammate Schumacher who didn’t make it out of Q1 this won’t make Rosberg any less determined though and he may be starting to see himself as a title protagonist this year. As for Schumacher we get to see him fighting through the filed but this isn’t the first time since his return and the prospect hasn’t lived up to its billing over the past two years.

First on the road behind the top five is Ricciardo, things had been looking pretty even between him and teammate Vergne so far this season but Vergne also went out in the first qualifying session and Riccciardo, in a car that struggled to challenge for points in China, can be very proud of himself therefore.  Ricciardo and Grosjean perhaps will be a good match in the race, both having only done part seasons before this their first full seasons, both are potential future world champions and very exciting to watch though and Grosjean starts 7^th .

Perez, Alonso and Paul Di Resta add a further three manufacturers to the top ten on the grid and as tyre degradation will be critical the mid-field race should be fascinating seeing how the races comes to and go away from different teams on different strategies and using their tyres in different ways. Then there is how many sets of tyres drivers actually have left after getting to the top ten, Alonso and Di Resta who didn’t set times in Q3 and Raikkonen who is the first driver to start on his choice of tyres may have an advantage over those in front.

Williams have dropped back by as much as Toro Rosso, or at least Ricciardo’s, have moved forward and Senna starts 15^th and Maldonado 22^nd taking a five place drop but having already been behind Kovalainen.

In Q1 Kovalainen timed a late run perfectly to beat Schumacher and Vergne to get through to Q2, a good step forward for Caterham but undoubtedly a case of Kovalainen outperforming the car to some extent. If Kovalainen gets the same kind of great start he did in China he will be right up there in the mid pack though; hopefully Caterham’s race pace, already more competitive than their qualifying pace, will also have made a step forward.

Monaco tunnel and chicane, photo by Nick J Webb

With around a month to go until the 2012 race the bumps that caused crashes for Rosberg and then for Perez in 2011 have been removed. The surface coming out of the tunnel and down to the chicane is now meant to be a lot flatter, if not completely flat, though there have always been problems here and it may be resurfacing will be needed more reguarly in future as bumps have caused accidents and then been removed here many times in the past just to redevelop.

Rosberg was lucky to escape injury last year in practice when his car spun on one of the bumps but missed the central tecpro barrier. Perez wasnt so lucky in qualifying but perhaps can be counted as lucky to have hit it sideways having lost some speed rather than head on which is more of a concern for future accidents.

The TecPro barrier did a great job for Perez in qualfying last year though he still suffered concussion and had to sit out not just the Monaco Grand Prix but also the Candian Grand Prix, he later admitted he wasn’t quite right again for much of the rest of the summer. That barrier has now though been moved back a full 15 metres meaning that more speed can be scratched off if cars do have incidents here and have a better chance of missing the central barrier entirely and going either side of it.

A view from the main grandstand at the Sakhir circuit, photo by Ange Embuldeniya

As cars take to the Sakhir track it feels a little sureal, we honestly never expected this race to go ahead and still have our doubts. With tensions around Manama running high and security stepped up ahead of practice any threat of violence around the circuit or realted to the race could still lead to a cancellation.

If security around the circuit clashes with protestors against the race and things get ugly can Formula One really continue and risk being left with blood on the hands of the FIA and in the eyes of the world the Formula One Group, Teams and of course sponsors?

Despite saying repeatedly that security wouldn’t be increased above levels for previous years today ahead of practice the race organisers have tightened security, though with so few fans expected to attend controlling matters inside shouldn’t be a problem; some suggested the race should be run behind closed doors with no spectators and that will almost be the case it is thought.

If things do flare up around the race it may be this afternoon(Friday) at 4 o clock lacal time when a protest is planned to take place at the race, this should be allowed to go ahead and the worst thing for Formula One would be a tough clamp down but of coutse the safery of all involved with the race must be paramount at all times and the balance could fall either way very easily of what is desired.

Force India of course have already beeen involved in an incident in Manama when a car carrying team personnel from their hotel got caught up in clashes betweeen Polic e and protestors and with firebombs feet away and teargas entering the vehicle their safety was at risk and it was only luck that no injury occurred.

Sponsors could still play a part if they risk damaging their brands by being in Bahrain and linked to deaths or injury to protesters. British MPs who called an early day motion for the race to be called off have urged sponsors to pull out of the event, meaning that cars if they do run may run without sponsorship. UBS, Gulf Air and DHL are the main sponsors with hoardings around the circuit and they may be the most visible companies to be involved with the race, Gulf Air are the title sponsor but are as a Bahraini company less likely to pull out.

Shanghai turn 14, Photo by P

Even after qualifying the two McLarens were still the favourites to win the race, despite their relatively lowly grid positions of 5^th and 7^th, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were expected to use their better race pace to come through the field while the Mercedes were meant to sink without a trace.

In the end the McLarens did manage to make their way through the field, Jenson getting most of the job done by the first corner. The Mercedes though surprised everyone by not destroying their tyres and having a race pace that seems to come from nowhere based on where they had been in Australia and Malaysia: it seems the pace was always there and it was purely a setup issue with Ross Brawn admitting after the Chinese Grand Prix that they had been greedy going for maximum top speed in the first two races and getting the balance wrong.

What the Chinese Grand Prix means for the rest of the season is unclear but with China having been a dry race on a proper race track you can expect Mercedes to now be fast all year: though maybe not quite so strong as the long back straight probably gave them an advantage, even though Rosberg rarely needed to use his DRS.

Rosberg’s win and its margin are a credit to him though at the same time the margin could have been a lot less so McLaren shouldn’t lose faith just yet and it could be that it will be McLaren and Mercedes who will fight tooth and nail for the rest of  the season now: with hints having been that McLaren might have dominated in 2012 neutral fans can only hope.

Schumacher dropped out of the race on only lap 12 and not due to any fault of his, his front right being left without a nut at his first pitstop. Perhaps this was just as well for Schumacher in some ways as Rosberg was already dominating him and getting more out of the tyres, if Schumacher had continued and not found some pace he could have been a long way behind Rosberg, instead people are speculating over whether Mercedes next win will be his.

Rosberg led away from the front and pulled out a few seconds quickly on Schumacher who did the same to Button who had gained two vital places at the start. As for Lewis Hamilton he gained places as well and found himself in 5th behind Raikkonen almost straight away. Kobayashi who had started third dropped to sixth.

The Red Bulls didn’t seem to have great pace early on in the race and Vettel dropped right back to the lower mid field where he had to defend against a Caterham. Vettel’s battle back through though to take fifth showed determination and good overtaking skills that some people doubted he had.

The race got really interesting as the second stops happened, Button had got the jump on Schumacher but Michael soon pulled off the circuit into retirement. Webber had been one of the first to pit pushing him onto a definite 3 stop strategy. The top ten had kept close together with Rosberg still only a few seconds ahead of Button who was keeping pace with him and catching at times.

Button was then put on to a three stop strategy though and ended up on new tyres chasing Rosberg on older tyres who had stopped once less. When Rosberg did take his second stop it looked like he may have been forced to go on to a three stop strategy but as it became clear that Mercedes intended for him to go to the end; as  Button was due to pit a third time the question was over whether Button would be able to catch Rosberg on his fresher tyres and whether he would then be able to pass Rosberg, whose Tyres could become quite bare by the last few laps.

It looked like being a thrilling climax and predictions of Button reaching Rosberg with two or three laps to spare were being bandied around by teams and commentators but then we were deprived of that action when Button’s  final pitstop was delayed as the left rear wouldn’t go on.

McLaren had called it perfectly to get Button out in fresh air in front of a train of Massa, Raikonnen, Veteel, Grosjean, Webber, Senna , Maldonado, Hamilton, Alonso and Kobayashi and Perez a little further behind.  Instead though Button lost time and filtered out into this train behind Grosjean, Vettel and the slower Massa(slow but soon to pit) and Raikkonen: himself on a 2 stop strategy and trying to nurse his tyres, yet doing some fantastic defending too.

Button would lose too much time to chase down Rosberg and instead found himself having to pass Vettel and Raikkonen if he wanted to even take second. We may have been deprived of Button battling Rosberg but what we did get to enjoy for the last twenty laps was fantastic racing with both McLarens coming through but also side by side racing between the Red Bulls, Ferraris, Williams, Saubers and Toro Rossos all fighting for points places. Webber, Raikkonen and Alonso all made mistakes and lost places while Hamilton showed brilliant poise and patience to make his way through and take opportunities when they presented themselves; Hamilton’s performance to finish third in fact is probably his most impressive performance China last year.

At Red Bull Vettel was unlucky not to take fourth with his tyres not being able to keep up the pace to keep Webber behind, who himself had a solid race. The Red Bulls are consistently scoring points at the moment though and this means if they can get their car working, as Mercedes did, they could still be challenging for the championship.

Next up Bahrain so we hope you enjoyed the overtaking while it lasted, although we are of course yet to see whether DRS can fix the far from perfect Bahrain Sakhir circuit that will be run on the older configuration rather than that used in 2010.