Monaco – Separating men from the boys

We witnessed one of the most exciting Spanish GPs in recent times as we saw an intense battle between championship favourite Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton that went right down to the wire. Hamilton tried everything possible to get past the Red Bull but Vettel defended brilliantly, even without use of his KERS at most time, to further extend his lead at the front.

Jenson Button finished third after having a disastrous first lap which dropped him back to 10^th place while Webber failed to impress after starting on pole. The last 15 laps of the race were intense with Hamilton trying everything to get past Vettel but not close enough to attempt an overtaking move due to the high downforce of the Red Bull. While the Red Bull’s seem to be absolutely dominant in qualifying, their race pace does not seem to be superior at all. If McLaren can be more consistent with their race pace there still might be a chance of beating Vettel.

Fernando Alonso had a lightning start and looked like he could take the fight to both Red Bull and McLaren but ended up finishing a lap down on the leaders. Ferrari never looked on the pace all weekend and the only reason they were in that position was because of Alonso’s brilliance. Ferrari always seems to make the mistake of reacting to the strategy around them rather than sticking to their own. Their desperation to cover Vettel cost them too much time as they had to finish almost half the race on the hard tyres, on which they were 3 seconds a la slower than the leaders.

In less than a week’s time we will have our sixth race of the season when we head to the streets of Monaco. Monaco separates the boys from men and the good from the great. Monaco is one track in the world where you have to be on the limit every second of the lap as the drivers drive barely inches from the wall. Almost all drivers will pick Monaco as one of their favourite tracks and it is every driver’s dream to win at the principality. This year’s racing might be spiced up with the new regulations but I only see the tyres making a big difference here.

Qualifying will be key to get track position and strategies will be crucial here as well so as not to get stuck behind slower cars, especially for the top teams. It is also possible that this might be the place where we have a different winner this year.

The DRS zone for this weekend has been identified as the start-finish straight but don’t think drivers will be close enough to take advantage of it. DRS had absolutely no or little impact in Sunday’s race as it was once again proved that tyres will be main game changer. DRS has been heavily debated for this race with most drivers pushing to ban DRS for this weekend. However it is believed Michael Schumacher is a big supporter of the device as he believes it will benefit his Mercedes. FIA are also in the process of deciding whether to ban DRS in the tunnel due to safety requirements. With regard to the DRS, the drivers are worried that the wing setting is either fully open or fully closed which will result in a big step difference between downforce levels if they use the device.

The other area of interest has been around the ‘hot-cold blown diffuser’ that has been making rounds. FIA is trying to clamp down on the way the engines are used to generate exhaust gas pressure on the over-run, in other words when the driver lifts off the throttle. The system is used to increase downforce by using hot exhaust gases as part of the aerodynamic flow under the car, into the rear diffuser. As clarified by FIA’s Charlie Whiting it’s not blown diffusers that were being banned, just the over-run part of their function.

The FIA decided to ban it before the Spanish GP and then did an immediate u-turn as the teams complained that they needed more time to make the change. While Red Bull seems to have the best system all the top team will also suffer if it is banned. However some teams including HRT and Virgin have said they would make a formal protest if teams do run with it this weekend. What do you know if that does happen and the teams get disqualified we could see HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan and the Virgin drivers on the podium.

Vettel is the clear favourite

Sebastian Vettel heads into round five of the F1 2011 world championship at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona as the favourite without a doubt. After three wins and one second place in the first four races the German definitely looks unstoppable as he heads back to F1’s favourite testing track.

While Red Bull took a commanding 1-2 last time out in Turkey the tight battle behind them looks set to resume again. Ferrari and McLaren are bringing aggressive upgrades to Barcelona as they try to close the gap to Vettel’s Red Bull. Ferrari’s updates helped bridge the gap slightly in Turkey and they are hoping to be even closer to the leader, especially in qualifying. While I don’t expect anyone to stop Vettel from taking his sixth consecutive pole the race might be closer this time out. I strongly believe that if Vettel leads into the first corner he is almost impossible to stop. However if he is stuck behind another car after lap 1, the chances of beating him are really high, as seen in Chinese GP last month. I expect Hamilton (Lewis), Alonso (Fernando) and Webber (Mark) to all be strong this weekend and hopefully challenging Vettel.

The Circuit de Catalunya is like a second home to all teams and drivers as majority of F1 testing is done here - this is because a car that performs well here normally performs well on all circuits. Traditionally, Barcelona has always signalled the beginning of the European season and it will be interesting to see whether the 2011 regulations are successful here. Barcelona is predominantly known to be one of the most boring races on the calendar due to its lack of overtaking opportunities. With the combination of DRS, KERS and the rapidly degrading Pirelli tyres will the Spanish fans be in for a surprise? Am not sure we will require as many tyre stops as we did in Turkey(4 stops), as the tyres have been tested extensively at this circuit and degradation should be less.

Another interesting area to watch out for will be the various development packages that all teams will be bringing this weekend. In F1 the ‘development race’ is key to winning the championship. The cars that the teams start the season with is completely different to the one they finish the season with as new parts and updates are brought frequently to almost every race. Last year the only reason that Alonso (Fernando) could fight for the title was due to development of the car throughout the year and this year if Ferrari or McLaren stand any chance of beating Red Bull, they will have to be aggressive with their updates. Even one race without small updates can have repercussions, as seen by McLaren last time out in Turkey.

The midfield teams Williams, Force India, Renault and Sauber will all be bringing significant updates to their cars as well in a bid to catch the front four. At the same time Red Bull will not be sitting quietly and will be doing everything in their power to make their car go even faster.

The Indian contingent will also be back to do their best in Barcelona with Narain Karthikeyan hoping to beat fellow newcomers Virgin Racing. Karun Chandhok will hope to be back behind the wheel of the Team Lotus Renault as he continues to fulfil his third driver responsibilities on Friday morning. His Team Lotus too are bringing in a raft of updates that will hopefully enable the team to battle the midfield teams. Considering the team is less than 2 years old this will be a remarkable achievement if they are successful.

Apart from the 2011 regulations and updated packages, all eyes will be on seven time world champion Michael Schumacher. He was severely criticized last race and there are stories circulating that he will hang up his boots soon. Schumacher has struggled to match his team-mate Rosberg all along but he will come back strongly after the disappointment of the last race.

F1 comes alive

So as Sebastian Vettel continues to dominate proceedings in the 2011 Formula One season one would wonder how the viewership in F1 is at an all-time high!! Well for any motorsport fan that is quite simple – racing has become fun again. While Vettel has been in a league of his own, the battle behind him has been getting closer and closer over the last few races. In a normal year, everybody would be complaining that F1 was so boring and predictable, and switching off. The new regulations that were drafted to make it more exciting definitely seems to be working, with races this year becoming unpredictable, enthralling and nail-biting till the very end. I thought we could take a deeper look to understand how these changes have impacted F1 this year.

The combination of the new Pirelli tyres, KERS (kinetic energy recovery system), and DRS (drag reduction system) rear wing overtaking aid has given us motorsport fans what we have always craved for - wheel-to-wheel banging amongst the world’s best drivers.

In my view the rapidly degrading Pirelli tyres is the main reason for closely fought battles this season. Some drivers had to make four stops last race and three stops the race before and mind you the only time that normally happens is when the race is rain affected. The difference between the old tyre and new tyre is sometimes close to three second which means drivers can make up the pitstop time in 5-6 laps, which is what Mark Webber has been doing in the last couple of races.

Drivers have also seen the importance of saving new tyres for the race rather than using them in qualifying. In future races my worry is that qualifying will lose its appeal as the drivers will sacrifice their starting position to save the tyres for the race.

The controversial DRS rear wing which was introduced this year has definitely spiced up the races this year. Overtaking has always been really tough and The FIA (motorsport governing body) came from a position where overtaking had become too hard and DRS was introduced to make overtaking possible - but not too easy.

The idea behind it is that it opens a slot gap in the rear wing, creating less drag and allowing the car to go faster down the straight. During the Turkish GP not only the fans, but some drivers thought it made overtaking too easy. There was a lot of overtaking with cars sailing past each other on the straight and not having to take any risks. However it must be noted that only when the tyres began to wear down, the drivers got close enough to use the DRS. Webber (Mark) and Alonso (Fernando) only got past Rosberg (Nico) when his tyres were in bad shape, Alonso got past Webber the same way, and Webber repaid Alonso the favour when he had new tyres and the latter was on the older tyres. I think DRS is a great and powerful tool for F1, as long as the DRS zone is set properly. Indian F1 driver Karun Chandhok had told me at the beginning of the year that while the DRS system will be great for F1, it will be trial and error process to get it right and he was also confident FIA will make it a success.

Sadly for all the teams and drivers, the new-style F1 leaves very little margin for error. It's so close on track that the smallest margin will have the biggest effect on the race.

With that said this season looks like it will be even more interesting than last years. McLaren and Ferrari, main challengers to Red Bull’s Vettel will have to really work out of their skins to stop the German from finishing the season early.

Next week I will preview the Spanish GPO and also discuss the importance of the ‘development race’ and how that will end up deciding the 2011 F1 title.