Alpine F1

The whole F1 world is expecting a decisive race this weekend, for more than one team or driver. McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, Toyota and the list goes on. Unfortunately we know that there is going to be losers.

But in F1 a win is inconceivable for most teams or drivers, therefore less than a win can also be a win. Yes they all start the weekend with a win in mind but realistically some know it won't happen.

One driver searching for a promising result must be Nelson Piquet Jr. It is almost imperative that the Renault driver has a happy weekend. It is no secret that his job is on the line. Fernando Alonso is holding the French team together at the present and it has been made clear to Piquet that he must succeed.

That success doesn't mean he has to win but he must come away from Monaco with everybody talking him up. The only way he can have that kind of response is to at least be on the podium.

Such a circuit as Monaco is not the ideal place for Piquetto please his employer. Add to the fact Flavio Briatore is looking for a scapegoat. Piquet will be up against it as his best result this year is a 10th place. His last substantial win was back in 2005 in the GP2 series, and that was one win from twenty-two races.

Not once but many times Monaco has been the home of an upset result and this is probably Piquet's best chance. You must be in a position though to capitalise on a high attrition rate and mistakes.

Piquet along with Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima are second generation drivers on the grid and for history's sake hopefully we can all watch Piquet shine at the famous street circuit. Piquet at the moment is flying under the radar, with all the issues surrounding F1 at the moment he escapes the issues surrounding himself.

This may be his blessing in disguise and now is the chance to pop up. It has happen before. In 1984 Niki Lauda was given three races by Ron Dennis to justify his comeback, Niki stood upon the top step on his third race back at longbeach.

Ironically, Monaco is the circuit that half points were awarded in 1984, the year Lauda won his third title by a half point from Alain Prost

Recent comments by the Renault boss suggest he and Renault have conceded defeat for the 2009 season. The comment, 'The World title means less if Brawn GP win it'. As we all absorb what is happening in F1 with Jenson Button and Brawn GP streaking away with their respective championship leads some of the more fancied teams are struggling. McLaren, Ferrari, Renault and BMW are coming to terms that they are playing catch up. It's all quiet in the McLaren garage as they and their reigning World Champion go about rectifying the situation. At Ferrari they and their drivers remain up beat that there will be a turn around, as early as the Monaco Grand Prix. If Flavio Briatore's comment came midway through the 2008 season it  may have been perceived differently but four races into the season it is more a signal that Renault simply haven't the answers to Brawn GP's success.

In 1952 the authorities, moved by low numbers for the up coming season after the withdrawal of some teams, decided the world championship would be run to Formula Two regulations in a bid to strengthen the grids. Ferrari were in a favorable position and Alberto Ascari ran away with the title. But there was no suggestions from any quarters that his title and his subsequent title in 1953 were less important.

It's evident that rule changes have been a part of and will remain to be part of F1. The competing teams of 1952/53 got on with the job of catching the leaders. No sour grapes there.

Briatore and any others that have the notion that the titles will be less prestigious if won by Brawn GP should be grateful that indeed the rule changes have transformed F1 to a more fan friendly competition. F1 is in the news for all the right reasons. As the factory teams come up to speed, and they will, towards the end of the season it might well be a massive fight for the titles. This would be extremely pleasing for all involved. Briatore is suggesting that Renault won't be a part of this.

Renault has just nine points, almost thirty points behind their customer team, Red Bull Racing. Renault's Nelson Piquet Jnr. is under enormous threat to preform or be replaced and double world champion Alonso who has scored all of Renaults points is struggling to be where he and the team needs to be. Piquet is not assisting in their endeavour and this may well be what has Briatore in a fix.

Briatore is an astute team manager as he has shown in the past. Guiding Michael Schumacher and Alonso to World Drivers Championships. We could feel for him although this is a sport after all.

Briatore should take comfort that his team isn't alone. Toyota is at present the only team to be above their customer. This fact points out the teams that have done their homework. Renault were in a position of catch twenty-two last season. Alonso came on strong towards the latter part of 2008 which Renault supported sacrificing development for season 2009. 

If McLaren and Ferrari and others had similar views then the sport would be in a spot of bother. The sport needs the factory teams and after their continued success it would be a shame if they elected to depart and not support a sport that has been in ways kind to them.

Alonso fuelled speculation on Renault's future when he suggested he wouldn't race in F1 against new F1 teams. If, and only if, these manufacturers leave the sport we could see the grid made up with non-factory teams. It would be a return to the sixties and seventies where private teams dominated the grids. As Alonso points out up to ten of the best drivers in the world would be watching from the grandstands. Monaco will be a decisive point in the 2009 season.

News has just been released that that Ferrari's court appeal against the £40 million budget cap regulations for next year has failed.

The regulation proposal by the FIA has prompted the Maranello team to issue several statements outlining their intention to leave the sport should the budget cap be bought in next year.  Ferrari fears that the regulations could see the sport enter a two-tier era.

Echoing the Italian teams view on the system, due to be introduced at the start of the 2010 season were ING Renault, Red Bull, and Toyota, who have released similar "quit" statements overthe last two weeks.

Since the release of the statements however, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone have admitted that they too believe that a two-tier championship is not attractive and have vowed to have all teams racing under the same regulations.

All 10 F1 team bosses are set to meet in Monaco ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix where they will also hold discussions with Mosley.

Commenting today on a leaked F1 entry list for 2010, Ferrari said: "Wirth Research, Lola, USF1, Epsilon Euskadi, RML, Formtech, Campos, iSport: these are the names of the teams, which should compete in the two-tier Formula One wanted by Mosley. 

Can a World Championship with teams like them—with due respect—can have the same value as today's Formula One, where Ferrari, the big car manufacturers and teams, who created the history of this sport, compete? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to call it Formula GP3?"

Ferrari, Red Bull, Toyota, and ING Renault are not expected to submit entries to the 2010 championship by the May 29 deadline.

There is frustration that FOTA’s constructive proposals, including major cost saving measures to be adopted progressively between 2009 and 2012, which were carefully constructed by FOTA members, have been completely ignored without any form of consultation by the FIA with the teams.

It should be stressed that FOTA has set the same, if not lower, financial objective as the FIA, but Renault strongly believes that this must be introduced through a different procedure agreed by all parties.

Renault also believes that it is paramount that the governance of the sport is coordinated with a spirit of consultation with all parties (FIA, FOM, FOTA) in order to achieve a better balance between the costs and the revenues. Renault is also of the firm view that all entrants in the World Championship must adhere to and operate under the same regulations.

President of the ING Renault F1 Team, Bernard Rey, commented: “Renault has always considered Formula One as the pinnacle of motor sport and the perfect stage to demonstrate technical excellence. We remain committed to the sport, however we cannot be involved in a championship operating with different sets of rules, and if such rules are put into effect, we will be forced to pull out at the end of this season.”

ING Renault F1 Team Managing Director, Flavio Briatore, commented: “Our aim is to reduce costs while maintaining the high standards that make Formula One one of the most prestigious brands on the market. We want to achieve this in a coordinated manner with the regulatory and commercial bodies, and we refuse to accept unilateral governance handed out by the FIA.

If the decisions announced by the World Council on the 29th of April 2009 are not revised, we have no choice but to withdraw from the FIA Formula One World Championship at the end of 2009.”

With Renault languishing in fifth place behind McLaren, Alonso and Piquet talk us through their feelings from the past few races, what they expect to achieve at Fernando's home Grand Prix. Renault's Pat Symonds explains what's to come from the R29.

Fernando Alonso: Driver

Fernando you had a physically draining race in Bahrain, but you still came away with a point.

Yes, my drink pump failed and so it was a tough race and I was a bit dehydrated when I got out of the car. It was good to score a point, but we were hoping for more after all our hard work over the last couple of weeks. I didn’t make a good start and lost ground which decided my race because all the cars around me were running similar strategies. I think it’s fair to say that we were the eighth fastest car and so finishing eighth is representative of our performance at the moment.

This weekend it’s your home Grand Prix in Barcelona. How special is it to race in front of your home crowd? 

It’s always very special to race in Spain and I’m lucky to have two races at home this year in Barcelona and Valencia. Seeing the support of the fans always gives me a boost and I just hope that I can make them happy and have a strong weekend. It will be difficult to fight for the podium, but hopefully we can qualify well and score some big points in the race.

Tell us about the Barcelona circuit and how you expect the R29 to perform there? 

All the teams know the track well as we do so much testing there in the winter. We tested there in February, but obviously we have developed the car a lot since then so we will need to work on the set-up during free practice. We are still missing some performance at the moment but the team has really improved the car already this season so we are certainly moving in the right direction. Hopefully we can take another step forward this weekend.

Nelson Piquet: Driver

Nelson, we’re a quarter of the way into the season. Sum up your feelings as we return to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix… 

It has been a difficult start to the year for me, but I feel I’ve learnt a lot from the first four races. The wet races in Malaysia and China were quite frustrating and we couldn’t really judge the performance of the car, but I’m feeling a lot more positive after Bahrain where I raced with the new diffuser. It would have been great to finish in the points, but all the cars are very competitive and reliable this year so to finish tenth was probably the best result that was possible on the day.

Barcelona is probably the track where you’ve driven the most. Do you enjoy racing there? 

It’s the circuit that I know the best, but it’s not one of my favourites because it’s not especially challenging for the drivers. It’s all about having a good aero package and a well balanced car to cope with the high-speed corners. It’s therefore difficult to overtake, so you need to qualify well to be able to choose a sensible strategy for the race. Barcelona is also really demanding for the tyres and so we need to see how the different compounds perform during long runs on Friday.

How much has the R29 improved since the start of the year? 

We’ve definitely improved the car by fitting the new diffuser and the team did a great job to react quickly and adapt the car. We also had an update to the front wing in Bahrain and the car is now much easier to drive than it was at the beginning of the year. I know the whole team is working really hard to find more performance and now that we are back in Europe it will be easier to bring new developments to the races.

To find out what Pat Symonds thinks of the R29, and the new updates coming this weekend, visit the F1 Times website.

Photo and Q&A Courtesy of RenaultF1.com

With three races gone in 2009, it is never too early for some pundits to begin compiling a "hit list" of drivers who should be removed from their prestigious F1 seats, and few other than Nelson Piquet have made the top of most of those lists.

The Brazilian, son of the three-time world champion with the same name, had a difficult debut season in 2008, with most expecting that he would not be asked to continue with his Renault employers this year.

Eyebrows were raised, therefore, when it was announced that Piquet would be continuing alongside Fernando Alonso in the team for the new season.

In his F1 career so far Piquet has given plenty of ammunition for his critics. Often while teammate Alonso was pushing for a points position, and even wins as the season drew to a close, Piquet would be scrapping in the midfield or spinning off the racetrack.

He is afforded particularly low regard in the UK, perhaps partly to do with his father's much-publicised feud with British racing hero Nigel Mansell in the 1980s.

In reality, few here were willing to give young Nelsinho much of a chance, and pounced on him as soon as he began making the same errors made by most rookies during their Formula One apprenticeship.

Even allowing for the difficulty of acclimatising to the ultra-competitive world of Formula One, ascribing his uninspiring debut season to the rigours of learning how to race an F1 car around unfamiliar tracks, most of those problems should have been dialled out by now, and we should be seeing more of Piquet's promise.

So far, it must be said, that has not been seen, but there are reasons why we should hold off on the barrage of abuse hurled at Piquet and at least give him a few more races to finally prove his worth.

When Piquet was competing in GP2, the category immediately below Formula One, he was driving for his father's team, a small outfit with resources that paled in comparison to the top ranks of the series.

Yet Piquet made the best he could of the situation, and was Lewis Hamilton's closest competitor as the British ace flew to the 2006 title, a year before he made his stunning debut in Formula One.

Are we to believe, then, that the only man to mount a serious challenge to Hamilton, now an F1 world champion, in those days, is really so useless as to warrant his immediate abandonment at the side of the Formula One highway?

Hamilton's entry into Formula One was tinged with greatness from the very start, and with Piquet making a similar impression in the junior formulae, the most natural comparisons are between this pair.

Hamilton finished on the podium in each of his first nine races in F1 and lost the world championship in his rookie season by a single point, eventually scoring the same number of points and winning the same number of races as his double world champion teammate Fernando Alonso.

Piquet had the same teammate when he entered F1, yet scored only one podium in the whole season and finished the year with just 19 points, 42 behind Alonso. Even leaving aside the fact that the 2007 McLaren was a far more competitive car than the 2008 Renault, shouldn't we have expected a little more from Piquet?

Well, no. Hamilton came into the McLaren team having been groomed and funded by the Woking operation for over a decade; he knew the team and its staff intimately, almost as if they were family. Alonso, by contrast, was new to a team already accustomed to working with world champions.

Piquet was the "new boy" at Renault for 2008: Though he had tested with the team for a year, Alonso was far more familiar with the Renault "family" than he was.

Furthermore, Piquet's role as Alonso's understudy was clear and well-established; at McLaren, Hamilton and Alonso began the year on equal terms, an opportunity that Lewis did not hesitate to take.

Looking back on Piquet's rookie season, it appears to be one strewn with errors and a fundamental lack of pace: the Brazilian failed to outqualify Alonso once all year.

But attention must be paid to Renault's strategy guru Pat Symonds, and his unconventional solutions to routine problems in Formula One.

Ever since 2005, when it became apparent that Giancarlo Fisichella was not up to Alonso's pace, Symonds would put one of his drivers on a long, one-stop fuel load at the beginning of the race. If something unexpected, like a safety car at a crucial point, happened, then that driver would be in the reckoning for an excellent result.

If not, as happened so often to Fisichella and later to Piquet, they would be destined for an unspectacular finish. Fisichella had the advantage of a strong car, so was usually able to scrape some points from the situation; Piquet did not, and thus most of his races were spent mired in the midfield.

But the one race where it did unquestionably work was the German Grand Prix of 2008. There, Piquet took advantage of a safety car to leap to the front of the field; though he was eventually passed by Lewis Hamilton, he held on to second place for his best F1 result to date.

Many drivers would struggle with the unique challenges of running a long strategy in a Grand Prix: Most are too hard on their tyres to even contemplate such an approach.

We saw Hamilton himself, for example, learn the hard way in China this year how important tyre management is when running a one-stop strategy: his race was punctuated by spins and excursions off the track as his tyres gradually wore down.

So Piquet's skills at handling and nursing a car, though rarely apparent as he quietly trundles along in the midfield, are not in doubt. When refuelling is banned for 2010 and longer strategies become more beneficial, we could see a revelation from Piquet.

That's if he lasts that long: He has been criticised for a poor start to 2009, though this has not been helped by two wet races. Some drivers simply do not get on with wet conditions, although Felipe Massa has shown that these problems can be solved with time.

The Australian Grand Prix was actually an excellent race for Nelson; taking advantage of the carnage at the start to leap from fourteenth on the grid to ninth on the first lap, he remained in contention until his brakes failed at the restart from under a safety car.

It could have been some solid points for Piquet otherwise, and the first occasion on which he had truly outperformed Alonso.

The ease with which Alonso obliterated Piquet in qualifying for Shanghai is deceptive, too: Piquet had none of the new aerodynamic updates delivered for Alonso's car in time for the Grand Prix.

Alonso believes that the improvements Renault are making to their car still mean that he is a contender for the world championship: If that is the case, then we should see a step forward from Piquet as well.

It is up to him, in the next few races, to prove that he deserves his place in Formula One, and to show this reporter why he alone hasn't lost faith.

I'm continuing my regular feature of selecting the best quotes of the race weekend with this article. Come the end of the season, I'll pick my favorite ten.

After the slim pickings in Malaysia (albeit a race weekend that gave us "Felipe baby"), there has been an outpouring of notable quotes this time out in Shanghai.

Race Build Up

Renault team principal Flavio Briatore kicked the weekend off as he reckons that now the controversial diffusers have been ruled legal by the FIA, the championship will be fought for between the two Brawn GP cars.

Briatore told the told the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper: "The drivers in our teams have been and are World Champions, while the Championship is now fought between a driver who was almost retired and another one who is a good guy but a paracarro [Italian for "kerbstone"]. I don't know where credibility has ended up with all this. To make up the gap we have to those teams is impossible."

Not only did Flavio call Jenson Button a "paracarro," but he is stating the Nelson Piquet, Jr. is a world champion! Just goes to prove that Briatore is a crazy Italian and must think he has Piquet, Sr. driving for him!

Briatore went on to point out that now the FIA have ruled the controversial diffusers legal, it is going to cost seven teams a lot of money to redesign theirs: "Just when there's talk of setting a budget cap to $30 million, we've spent $15 million for KERS and $10 million more for the diffusers. We're left with five to travel and to pay the employees."

After Friday practice the "almost retired" and "paracarro" drivers responded.

Button hit back by saying: "He needs to remember that he tried to employ me for this year. He is obviously a very angry man after the diffuser issues, and he is obviously very disappointed that they haven't produced a car that is as competitive as ours. We have worked very, very hard in very difficult circumstances and it is very, very unfair for Flavio to comment as he has just because he is a little bit bitter."

Barrichello kept his response short: "There are plenty of good people in the paddock and plenty of bad losers."

Renault boss Briatore just couldn't stop himself having a dig at Brawn GP this weekend when talking about the revenue share that Honda would have received possibly being given to Brawn GP he suggested that he might have to rob from the rich (Brawn), to give to the poor (Renault).

“...since (Ross) Brawn was our technical delegate, and he forces me to spend money I don't have in my budget, and since Honda's money have luckily not been shared yet... My proposal will be as follows. Brawn is richer than anyone else, because he's had his team paid for in full by Honda, plus he's had 130 million given to him (by Honda). He's certainly richer than I am. I don't want to be a Robin Hood, but when there's a situation where everyone is transparent then it's fine.”

Later on in the race weekend Ross Brawn, “a person of supreme arrogance” as described by Ferrari lawyer Nigel Tozzi during the week, responded to Flavio's comments: "Flavio's very flamboyant; he's great with the one-liners, and that's his forte. It's a shame that he brings those things into the public arena as they're FOTA business, but that's his style. I'd rather not talk about it." For future reference, Flavio, that's how team bosses should act.

Moving on from one serial Renault whiner to another, Alonso has been making his feelings known about Bridgestone's decision to bring super-soft compounds as the option tyre for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, and came out with some wonderful quotes.

"I don't know if Bridgestone made the decision or the FIA, but they have to reconsider this type of decision because we look ridiculous on television and we look ridiculous for the spectators, and it is a joke to be in front of TV six seconds slower.”

Now he knows how Piquet feels every race weekend, and Alonso, you would look ridiculous no matter what tyres your car has on it with that garish Renault livery and your mono-brow.

Alonso should be part of the rule-making team at the FIA as he came up with a brilliant idea to improve overtaking: "And if they want to be funny and mix the results and have overtaking, they can do a better job – a funny solution, maybe they can put us on the wet tyres or something. Like this it looks more spectacular – the difference in the speed. I don't know... maybe we can pick up our number and then whoever picks up number 15 can put on wet tyres, or whatever, and it is a better show and it's funny. Like this it is not funny."

Don't worry, he wasn't done yet: “I'm very worried about this and I'm very sad about this, because we look strange in front of people."

Alonso needs to take a look at those pictures of Flavio Briatore in a thong to see what looking strange in front of people looks like.

But still there was more: "One will be too hard and one will be too soft. The right tyre is at home! The soft tyre is at home, and this happened in Australia as well.”

Reminds my of the story "Goldie Locks and the Three Bears," but I think a more appropriate comparison would be Briatore on the radio saying, “Fernando baby stay cool, we're bringing you the right tyre. Stay cool. We're in a good position, OK?”

Another comment that came out this week was Williams CEO Adam Parr questioning the design of Ferrari's cars over the past decade, saying that the Italian team had won championships using "illegal" cars.

Team principal of Ferrari Stefano Domenicali told Autosport, "During the Court of Appeal hearing I was told that someone said that Ferrari won the championship in the last ten years with an illegal car, I was quite astonished to hear that. I was surprised that Ross (Brawn) did not try to respond to that either.”

"This is something that I want to discuss with Adam, because I think it is something where you need to be responsible about what you are saying."

I think Stefano needs to clarify what he means by "astonished."  Is he astonished that Parr would say such a thing, or astonished that everyone did not know?

Thursday Press Conference

Red Bull's Mark Webber was asked about the start to the season and came out with his best quote of the season so far: “We had a pretty good run in Melbourne until the first corner. I think Heikki hit Rubens. I haven't spoken to Heikki about that yet but Rubens and I said we are going to bash him up later on. Yeah, that happens.”

Heikki replied, “You guys brake so early for the first corner. Next time I will run over you even more!”

When asked what the drivers had been up to since the last race and Heikki said, “I went back to England after the last race, spent four days in Woking working with the engineers with a bit of simulation as well and then got back on Saturday, went to Singapore for a few days, found a nice golf course. Then when I lost all the balls I turned up here!”  All this proves he is as rubbish at golf as he is at starting a race.

Mark Webber said: ”Yeah, I went back to the UK as well and I got here as late as possible and I'll leave as quickly as possible.” Webber doesn't like being in China then.

After Friday Practice:

Sebastian Buemi said, "I didn't get a perfect lap today, so I think I can do a lot better tomorrow. I like the track; it's very big, very new, very everything!"

Ferrari's Felipe Massa is learning all the time; it's only taken him three races to notice what we all knew in Australia: "We learned first of all, in my case, that we don't have the same car as last year."

What gave it away, Sherlock? The larger front wing, smaller rear wing, or the zero point tally?

Lewis Hamilton was asked about Ron Dennis' departure from F1 stating, "I wasn't disappointed. I was surprised, but I had not heard about it. I was just as surprised as the rest of my team."

The Ferrari drivers seem to have differing opinions on KERS and Kimi has gone all Shakespearian. 

Raikkonen said: "The balance of the car isn't bad and one doesn't feel the lack of KERS.”

However Massa sees it differently: "Here we are also running without KERS and as a result, we are losing even more performance.”

Friday Press Conference

BMW team principal Mario Theissen apparently said "apparently" a lot, but his best "apparently" came when his was talking about development work on a new diffuser: “Apparently we have started to work on it and we will have an aero update for Barcelona.”

Are you not in charge Mario? Surely you should know what development work is going on back at the factory, apparently not!

When Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was asked about Sebastian Vettel and his start to the season, he responded, “...He was desperately unlucky in Melbourne...”

BMW's Mario Theissen took that as an opportunity to jump in and shot back with: “He decided to be unlucky!”

Obviously still feeling hard done after his driver Robert Kubica was involved in a racing incident with Vettel.

Horner quickly changed direction: “But thankfully he told the truth.”

Mercedes boss Norbert Haug saw that as an attack on McLaren and Hamilton: “I think it was OK.” Is he referring to the Vettel and Kubica incident, or Hamilton lying to the stewards?

Horner went on: “He (Vettel) told the truth in front of the stewards and got a ten place penalty. He was unlucky in Melbourne, a racing accident.”

That ended the exchange between the three, however, later on Horner and Haug were having a little dig at each other again over the amount of equipment each team now takes for a race weekend.

Horner started it off with: “I think McLaren had about 18 boxes; we weren't far behind and I think that will be a trend for the rest...” Horner couldn't finish his sentence as Haug interrupted simply saying: “Red Bull 19.”

The pair continued with Horner asking: “Did you get your cases?” To which Haug replied: “Well, I count yours and you count ours and then we see.”

Brilliant stuff, Horner and Haug are a great double act and should be at every Friday press conference!

Post Qualifying

Mark Webber as team leader isn't going to be showing his teammate Vettel any quarter: “I'm doing what I can to give the youngster (Vettel) a hard time; we're pushing each other hard and it's working very well!"

Alonso didn't want to play ball when Marco Degl'Innocenti from La Gazzetta dello Sport asked him about whether he was using a new diffuser on his car: “I think you ask too much, always. You all want to know KERS/no KERS, diffuser/no diffuser. It's like if a cyclist tells the press when he will attack in the mountains. This is a little bit confidential.”

That's quite a random quote, even for Alonso. I hope there are no cyclists waiting to attack me next time I go hiking in the mountains!

Meanwhile, further down the grid, Lewis Hamilton was trying his best to get a new sponsor: "They were pretty hardcore laps! They were almost beyond the limit. Step by step, we are moving forward. And thanks to all the guys back at the factory for doing such a fantastic job and for churning away on all the new parts, every little bit helps us catch the leaders.”

That's right Lewis, "every little helps." I can see the advert now: Lewis is driving a shopping trolley being pushed by Heikki and Pedro De La Rosa around TESCOS, grabbing at all the amazing offers!

Post Race

Vettel admitted he names his cars and at Shanghai it was "Kate's Dirty Sister" he drove to victory: "My original car was called 'Kate'. Like a ship, it should be named after a girl, as it's sexy. But then my monocoque got smashed at the opening race in Australia. So we called this one 'Kate's Dirty Sister' because it is more aggressive and faster!”

Before the race, Vettel made former Red Bull driver David Coulthard blush when he was talking about naming his cars as they were females: "It's important to have a close relationship with a car. Anyway, you are the man when it comes to women."

Jenson Button had been waiting for Webber to pull a magic trick on him during the race and "appear" in front when he said, “For me I was pretty much just always out of control. I was just waiting for Mark to appear, well not appear in my mirrors, but appear in the front. I locked up the fronts in that corner. I was struggling there with locking up the tyres.”

But Webber demonstrated that he wants Button to do his own magic trick and "blow up," saying, “I must say that normally when I'm in that position, to gain positions, I like to see the guy in front have a problem and blow up... of course if it was Jenson, I would like to see him blow up, but it was Sebastian so it was a bit different...”

Mark wasn't even racing though; he was just out having fun splashing in the puddles: “Another little mistake. Just playing with the rivers, you know, just playing with them, how aggressive you can be with the rivers and how much you can get away with. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost. It was a fantastic challenge.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner had this to say on the result: "It's a breakthrough result for us. It's a long season ahead, and we can see that we're competitive with both drivers, so I think the sky's the limit." Is that a very subtle plug for "Red Bull Gives You Wings"?

Horner got a little arrogant and added, "Imagine when we get our double diffuser..."

Sebastian Bourdais showed the French mentality to surrender doesn't go away: "I started 15th and finished 11th, even with a couple of spins. I've got mixed feelings, because I don't think we should have raced, as there was so much aquaplaning... I could have spun 15 or 20 times and Sutil's crash showed what could have happened. The one positive thing is that it was probably a good show for the fans."

Flavio Briatore just can't let the diffuser ruling lie: "Absolutely congratulations to Red Bull. They have a fantastic car with the normal rules."

Meanwhile, Martin Whitmarsh is getting a bit paranoid: "This talk of him being disliked by his mechanics over what happened to Davey is just rubbish. The reality is that there is an agenda here, some people are out to get us.”

In the world of Formula One we have so many undoubtedly fantastic talents. These are the talents which drive our favourite sport into exceptional realms of intense competition and stunning spectacles.

The opening to the current season has also given us a re-introduction to the dramatically unexpected events that can occur in the sport. This is something that has eluded the sport a lot in the last few years, throughout the years of Schumacher dominance and team advantages which played a major role in the results of race weekends and title battles.

We now have an eclectic mix of drivers thundering towards the front of the pack. And it is these surprising sporting heroes that are forcing those who we previously respected as the best drivers to be portrayed in a negative light.

Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen, and Alonso have been completely dumbfounded at their dominance coming to a crashing holt. Their cars are letting them down in an embarrassing fashion.

They can do their jobs to the best of their ability and be presented with a mid field grid slot at best, leaving them to make up ground with a hopefully improved race pace.

This has obviously been a revolutionary chain of events for the sport. From the outset the season has become enticing and intriguing for its spectators. We cannot predict the outcome as of yet, and although we expect Ferrari and Mclaren to turn the tables, we relish this level of unpredictability.

What it has brought to our attention however is the lack of a dominating driver or collection of drivers. When Michael Schumacher dominated, he out performed his car with such natural ease that we became accustomed to the title race ending before the final couple of rounds of the season.

There has been a lot of talk recently about drivers such as Hamilton and Massa winning races due to their cars as opposed to their driving skills. For surely a faltering Mclaren in the hands of Lewis Hamilton would not be a faltering race car when he flourishes on a race track.

And that begs me to ask the question—do we have a driver in the field at the moment that is ever going to come close to matching the style and quality of driving that Michael Schumacher portrayed? Do we have a driver capable of outperforming a car to such a capacity that they become relatively un-defeatable?

A lack of a defining driver is not a bad thing of course. When Schumacher dominated the sport it became somewhat lifeless. It began to become obligatory for some to watch the highlights of a racing weekend.

This would of course have saved them from spending two hours trying to stay concentrated on a race where nothing happened except for a red Ferrari leading from the front. Events on track all seemed to blur into one.

History is made in Formula One however through drivers who showcase such incredible consistency and talent throughout their whole career. Fangio, Prost, Senna and Schumacher are forged into the memories of all who follow the sport; for these are the drivers who were capable of producing results season after season.

So can the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikonnen and Fernando Alonso enact in us a similar response to the mention of their names? If they cannot force their cars back to the forefront of the sport will they become known as flash in the pan drivers?

Will they become known as drivers who shone with a good car, but became average nobody’s when the heat was on, and they were presented with an actual fight on their hands?

Of the three Fernando seems the most equipped to tackle this early season struggle which has took hold of the "top teams." His second half of the 2008 season showed us what glorious qualities he has when he is behind a wheel. And this was even in a car which was number three at best of the ten teams.

For former champions Lewis and Kimi however, the pressure is most definitely on. They will need to produce great displays of determination and competitiveness to focus our attentions back on their previously acknowledged talents.

If not then they will become known for being one hit wonders, with their defining moments featuring when they were just about good enough and their car was flawless.

We have a blank page for the Formula One history books, so what will become written, in the years to come, if anything at all?

After what was an extraordinary weekend last week in Australia, the teams head north-west for the second round of the championship at the Sepang circuit, just outside Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia.

The circuit made it's F1 debut in 1999 after funding by the Malaysian government, and has proved to be a popular addition to F1. It became the benchmark for F1 in terms of facilities for both the F1 personnel and fans—so much so that following the inaugural race there the teams felt the facilities at the following round in Suzuka were cramped despite being classed as one of the biggest in F1!

The pitlane length and profile (i.e. corners in the pitlane entry) contribute to the determination of the optimum fuel strategy. The pitlane loss at Sepang is approximately 22 seconds, the fifth most penalising pitlane in the Championship.

To complete a normalised distance of 5km around the Sepang circuit requires 2.38kg of fuel against an average of 2.42kg per 5km across all circuits this season, making the circuit the fifth least demanding track of the year in terms of fuel consumption.

As for the track itself, it is mostly a mix of medium and high speed corners. While there are tight corners which require good traction, two fast chicanes and long sweeping corners dominate the circuit's character. It is also very wide, reaching 20 meters at it's widest point, so plenty of room for overtaking.

And, unlike Melbourne, the circuit is used regularly all year round to events like MotoGP (racing and testing), Formula Nippon, GP2 Asia and various national formulae. Let's take a closer look at the circuit now and see where time can be gained and lost

Turns 1 and 2

Like Melbourne, the first two turns can be counted as one. The drivers approach the first corner at 190mph and brake heavy into a long, sweeping but tight first turn. Over the years we have seen some incidents at this turn—most notably the clash between Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya back in 2002. But it's at Turn 2 where most of the dramas have happened. From Turn 1 it's a small swirt of the throttle before braking into Turn 2, which is a tight, second gear left-hander. During the first race here we had two notable events with different outcomes—Pedro Diniz and Damon Hill collided on the first lap, then David Coulthard defied convention and passed Michael Schumacher with an ambitious move. Schumacher was also involved in another incident in 2003, nudging Jarno Trulli into a spin and receiving a penalty for his troubles. Traction coming out of the turn is very important as this will determine the speed right down to Turn 4.

Turns 3 and 4

Turn 3 isn't considered by many of the drivers as a corner, as it is a flat-out blast towards Turn 4. It is similar in ways to the sweep down to the hairpin at Hockenheim, and the advantage of this is that turbulent air shouldn't be as much an issue and this should create a possibility for a chance to overtake—although this shouldn't be an issue with the new regulations. Turn 4 is a second gear, 90-degree right hander which seems simple at first but can be tricky to take. The cars tend to understeer as the drivers initially turn in, making clipping the apex hard, but in order to get a good lap they have to clip the apex, so with the new regulations permitting the driver to change the front wing angle twice a lap expect it to be used a lot here, especially during qualifying.

Turns 5 and 6

The first of the two fast chicanes on the circuit and the two corners that the drivers enjoy the most. Despite the short run from Turn 4, the drivers are already hitting 150mph as they turn left into Turn 5 and they sweep into the corner, dealing with g-forces of 2.5 in the middle of the corner. Then it is immediately right into Turn 6 - something which some drivers over the years have failed to achieve as it is easy to understeer wide and across the grass. It is important for the drivers to keep up a high minimum speed here in order to achieve a good lap time, and on a good lap the drivers will be hitting around 165 MPH as they exit Turn 6.

Turns 7 and 8

Yet another set of corners that can be counted together, and a very impressive set of corners. The drivers approach Turn 7 at around 170 MPH and touch the brakes and flick down 3 gears, turning right as hard as they can to clip the apex of the corner. Then Turn 8 follows immediately, not even allowing the drivers time to straighten the steering wheel as they must continue turning right and clip the apex once again. If a car is set up good then they will be able to take Turn 8 full throttle, whereas a car with problems will need to take a small confidence lift. However not every driver who takes it full throttle can make it through here unscathed - Robert Kubica spun here in 2007, and Felipe Massa spun into retirement at the same corner a year later

Turn 9

The slowest corner on the circuit can be more tricky than it first seems. The cars brake heavily on the right hand side before turning in, once again clipping the apex, before trying to get as much as traction as possible exiting the corner. Bizarrely, this is the most popular spot on the circuit for the leaders to lap slower cars, and over the years has seen some overtaking moves - some successful (notably Schumacher and Barrichello in 2001 in drying conditions) but mostly unsuccessful (Irvine on local hero Alex Yoong back in 2002).

Turns 10 and 11

As the drivers exit Turn 9 they enter what seems to be a never-ending Turn 10, constantly sweeping right and building up speed, while dealing with g-forces of up to 3g. Then they enter Turn 11, which has a tricky entry as the drivers are braking, turning and downshifting into the corner. Once again, it is important yet difficult to clip the apex of the corner, letting fans and rivals know who has a good setup on their car and who will struggle. It is important to run wide onto the kerb at the exit of the corner as this will allow the driver to build up as much speed to carry into the next corner.

Turns 12 and 13

The second of the fast chicanes may not be as fast as the first, but is more tricky to drive. As the drivers turn left into Turn 12, the track dips away slightly from them, causing the back end to get light and sometimes a bit loose. Then it is straight into Turn 13, which is very similar to Turn 10 as it is a long sweeping right hander, and also the braking point into Turn 13. It is quite easy to make a mistake on the exit of the corner - as Takuma Sato and Fernando Alonso can testify as going off there in qualifying in recent years.

Turn 14

The penultimate corner on the track is quite possibly the most important as it leads into the best overtaking spot on the circuit. As I said before, the braking area for this corner is in the heart of Turn 13, and it is diffcult for the driver to get turned in. However, the drivers must get the car turned in as quickly as possible in order to build up as much speed as possible for the back straight—a good exit from this corner could mean a gain in position going into the next.

Turn 15

The final corner, and the widest part of the circuit at 20 M. The drivers brake heavily into the final corner from 195 MPH and shift down from seventh to second gear, hitting a minimum speed of 54 MPH. It is also the scene of many overtaking moves over the years—the most memorable being Haikkinen on Herbert in 1999, Schumacher on Button in 2002 and 2003, and the three-way battle between Nick Heidfeld, Mark Webber and Ralf Schumacher in 2005. But not all overtaking moves here are successful—Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber had a very messy conclusion to their battle in 2005 with both retiring on the spot. The exit of the corner is vital for two reasons—the first being that the entry to the pit lane is just before the exit and therefore any time gained here will be gained in the pits, and secondly the speed out of the corner determines the speed down the pit straight.

So there it is—your guide to Sepang. It is celebrating it's 11th F1 race this weekend, and with only three previous winners in the field it is unlikely that past form could be a factor here. But after the domination of the Brawn team in Australia, who wants to bet against them again this weekend?

With the 2009 season only hours away, all the drivers on the grid will start with optimism, in the hope that 2009 can be their year. But for several drivers on the grid, 2009 will dictate which way their future in F1 will go.

It will either make or break their F1 careers—some will go on to bigger and better things, and some could find themselves on the F1 scrapheap like so many before.

Here I look at the drivers for whom 2009 is vitally important to their F1 future.

Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes

Although most people will be surprised to see Heikki amongst this list, they will not be surprised at the reason why he is on it.

The Finn showed super speed on his way up to F1, winning the Formula Renault crown in 2004, defeating Michael Schumacher of all people in the Race of Champions that year and finishing second to Nico Rosberg in the inaugural GP2 season, he has failed to hit these heights during his time in F1.

Although he took his first win last year in Hungary, it was inherited rather than hard-earned, and Heikki finished a disappointing 7th in the championship, with just over half the points of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The hierarchy at McLaren will not accept another average season by their high standards, and Heikki will have to raise his game in order to keep his seat for 2010

Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

After dramatically taking the title at the final race in 2007, Kimi had an appalling season in 2008, littered with driver errors and poor qualifying performances.

Although his race pace couldn’t be questioned, with a record 10 fastest laps throughout the season, he just never seemed to be interested in fighting for the title. He had some stunning drives—dominating at both Malaysia and Spain, and having a strong drive until the final rain-affected laps at Spa—but apart from that he never looked like a world champion.

There was rumours floating about the paddock that the Ferrari engineers were not happy with Kimi’s technical input, which is a key element in modern F1, and having not won a race since round four in Spain last season, Kimi will need to up his game back to his brilliant best if he is to continue to be a top-level driver in F1

Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber

Perhaps the biggest surprise on the list, ‘Quick Nick’ hasn’t exactly been underperforming in recent years.

He had a very strong 2007, and followed that up with some excellent drives throughout 2008, especially in mixed conditions at the likes of Silverstone and Spa.

But his biggest downfall was his qualifying—too often Nick started well down the field compared to team-mate Kubica, and had to fight his way through the field in order to score some decent points.

With BMW wanting to challenge for the drivers title in the next few years, the pressure will be on Nick to produce top drives in order to keep his BMW drive and have his best shot at finally taking his first career win

Nelson Piquet - Renault

Having arrived in F1 with an impressive CV, 2008 was a major disappointment for young Nelsinho.

Many people, including several of our own members here on Wheelnuts, expected Piquet to push Alonso very hard from the start at Renault, considering he had a full season testing with the team.

But it wasn’t until the 8th round of the season at France that Piquet finally began to match Alonso, and even scored a podium before the Spaniard with a fine second place in Germany (although this was more down to circumstances than pace).

But throughout the season there was rumours that he could be replaced with Renault tester Lucas Di Grassi, and must have been mightily relieved to have been confirmed for 2009.

Having been out-qualified 18-0 by Alonso last season, Nelson must begin to improve his form and at minimum match his team-mate, otherwise his F1 career will end at the final race in Abu Dhabi.

Jarno Trulli- Toyota

The Italian vertern is moving into his autumn years of his F1 career, and needs to perform well in 2009 in order to make sure he can make it last longer.

Jarno joined the team back in 2005 and for the first half of that year looked like he could finally take the team’s first win. But fast forward 4 years and there is still no win. For most of the time in between Jarno has seemed to resemble a mobile chicane, holding drivers up instead of pulling away from them.

And despite a strong mid-season last year, with a podium in France, it has to be said that he was matched by team-mate Timo Glock.

There was rumours of him being replaced for 2009 by Toyota protégé Kumai Kobayashi, and Jarno will need to show just how good he is in 2009 so that he doesn’t suffer the same fate as compatriot Giancarlo Fisichella and settle for a lower-ranked team in order to stay in the sport

Mark Webber - Red Bull Renault

Out of all the drivers I have listed, Webber looks to be under the most pressure for 2009.

The Australian is moving into his 8th season of F1 having raced for Minardi, Jaguar and Williams before moving to Red Bull, yet only has two podiums to his name.

Although he out-performed a fading David Coulthard last season, he faces a far bigger challenge this year in the shape of recent winner Sebastien Vettel, possibly the hottest talent in F1 right now.

And with Red Bull continuing to run their driver programme, they constantly have new drivers pushing to get into F1. Webber will need to match Vettel in 2009 otherwise he could be ousted by the likes of Sebastien Buemi or Brandon Hartley.

Nico Rosberg - Williams Toyota

Having been touted 12 months as a possible placement for Fernando Alonso at McLaren, how Rosberg must be regretting staying with Williams.

He had a poor season in 2008, despite two podiums, and was often matched by his rookie team-mate Kazuki Nakajima, with the Japanese driver scoring more point-scoring races than Rosberg.

With Williams continuing to slip back down the field, Rosberg will have to re-consider his future at the end of the season, otherwise he could do down in history as yet another wasted talent

So there it is—my list of drivers who could have career-defining seasons in 2009 - but do you agree with what I have said?

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