F1 2012: The Verdict so far

Well. What an opening to the F1 2012 season. 4 races down and 4 different winners, a stark contrast to this time last year when Vettel was already walking away with the title.

(c) Octane Photographic

This is a, kind of, review of the first 4 races, comparing them and seeing what we can read from them. After the season kicked off in Australia it looked like Mclaren had the season in the bag, but the next 4 races changed things.

Pre-season was where the talking started. Everyone was discussing how the new rule changed, banning of the blown diffuser and the new noses, would bring the field closer together but after 9 days of testing the teams still did not know where they stood. It was pretty exhilarating, but also in contrast painful, waiting for this season to begin.

With Australia kicking off this year’s campaign we saw Mclaren walk it in qualifying, locking out the front row. Behind them it was more of a mixed bag, with Grosjean in the Lotus a surprise in 3^rd. It was hard to judge behind the Mclaren as Red Bull, Mercedes, Lotus (despite Raikkonen’s P18) and Williams looking strong. The race was a cracker, with Hamilton getting overtaken by team mate Button into Turn 1. There was the usual Turn 1 chaos which we usually see in Melbourne, eliminating Nico Hulkenberg (sad as he qualified pretty well). As the race went on it was clear Red Bull and Vettel were on the pace, the 2011 champion leap frogged Hamilton but only with some luck when the safety car came out. 

Then with just a few laps to go Maldonado crashed in spectacular style from 6^th place, dramatic but sad. It was a stunning race with the setting sun and great on track action. On twitter I asked my followers which of the 4 first races of 2012 was their favourite. Unsurprisingly very few people (Only @THEPastaMaster who said it was “of course”, obviously a Mclaren fan, and @Charlie_Gaze who also enjoyed China too) voted for Australia, but it was only the obvious result due to the calibre of the other races, not that it was bad at all.

After Australia all of the fans were not really sure who the front runner was, something we have not seen for a while. No one had moved forward and showed their dominance like Red Bull had the previous year. It was clear that Ferrari were struggling, Alonso at least recovering from a lowly grid position to 6^th. Chatter among the punters had already highlighted Massa was under threat, his race ended after contact (a familiar sight recently, right?) 

The midfield pack was so close from the get go, causing exciting action. It was certain that F1 had turned a corner from the bore fests (sorry Schumi) of the 2001-2004 where it was a Ferrari walk over and the midfield pretty much stayed the same. F1 was in one of its golden era’s, some would say since the 1994-1995 Schumacher/Hill days or 1988-1990 Senna vs. Prost. 

Moving on to the Sepang Circuit and we had all guessed rain would be a feature on that weekend. With Bernie moving the time slot for the race backwards to suit European viewing it was pretty obvious that water would play its part. With the winner being anyone’s guess the Mclaren’s locked out the front row for the 2^nd race in a row, could Hamilton (this time) win from pole?  Well the answer to that was no. For the first time this year (of 2 I know) Hamilton kept his lead into turn 1. It was one of those situations for the team when part of the track was Intermediate worthy, while the rest was wet. Grosjean helped Schumacher take a spin in the heavy rain but the Mclaren’s maintained the status quo. Sergio Perez dived into the pits at the end of lap 1 to switch to the full wets. It was an inspired choice and saw him vault up 7 places. By the time the rest of the field did so he was flying, as was Alonso, and the order changed dramatically. The red flag had to come out at the end of lap 9, the 2^nd red flag in 4 races. It was another 50 minutes of waiting before the race got underway again (leaving me plenty of time to finalise my review of the first 9 laps). When it got underway Button made an uncharacteristic error and sliced into Karthikeyan as he attempted to lap him. This ruined his race. Vettel also came to blows with the Indian backmarker but he got a puncture for his contact. 

Out front Fernando Alonso did take a surprise win for the Ferrari; obviously it worked better in the cooler conditions. Sergio Perez got his maiden podium and it was a great result for F1 and Mexico.  It is always special seeing young talent get their maiden podium, very special indeed. Many of you guys on the social networks thought Malaysia produced the best race so far; here are some of your thoughts:

‏”@matthewway : Malaysia has been my favourite so far, watching Perez, the underdog fighting for the win!”

“@RhysWL_F1: Malaysia because me and my Dad were shouting at the TV for Checo to win, disappointed at the end but still awesome race! #JLF1”

Meanwhile Brad Dodds said on Facebook: “I thought the battle between Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso was just pretty exciting the Saubers have been doing well this year”

So after the rain affected Malaysian race we moved over to China in contrastingly cool conditions. There was a Mercedes powered front row lock out in Qualifying but it was from neither of the Mclaren’s, Button qualifying P5 and Hamilton starting P7 after receiving a 5 place grid penalty. To everyone’s amazement Nico Rosberg took his maiden pole position; at a track where he has always been fast.  There was some kind of relief (and joy) in the paddock because he had 2 monkeys on his back, to get a pole and a race win. The first of those 2 was flicked calmly off on Saturday, but on Sunday he would also get his maiden win.  It was just not to be for Button, he could have challenged the German winner but a slow stop made him come out in traffic. Forget the Trulli train, the Raikkonen train was around 10 carriages long and Button slotted right into that. Hamilton scored his third podium in a row, with another 3^rd place. 

Mercedes seamed to stamp their competitiveness on the F1 2012 season. Schumacher could of challenged at the front had it not been for a pit stop error leading to his exit with a loose wheel. However Mclaren, Red Bull, Lotus, Ferrari all looked strong. The “super-DRS” that they seemed to have worked well in China, but would it work elsewhere?

There were many of you tweeting me saying this was the best race of the 4, partly due to Rosberg being a popular driver but also for the fact that there was such clean and exciting action. Here are some of your tweets:

“@F1Times: China - Rosberg winning, close racing behind him and several brilliant battles in the closing few laps.”

“@chrischilt: China was best, Nico getting that long overdue first win and great close racing behind him like a Formula Ford event! #JLF1”

“@F1_Fans_Updates: best #F1 race so far this season Chinese GP GREAT clean racing, only one DNF and good drive by Rosberg for his 1st win #JLF1”

“@Alec_Byhurstttt: #JLF1 I'd say china was my favourite because it was so close for second and third places etc”

Lots of you guys enjoyed the Chinese GP, just as I did. However if Mclaren had not performed that poor stop then we could of seen a fight for the win, till the end.

Moving swiftly on from Rosberg’s win came a controversial topic. Bahrain. Now the continuing unrest in the gulf state was worrying and many fans did not want the teams to go. However, Bernie (not wanting to lose out on the cash) said it was safe to go. Thankfully the event went by swiftly and without serious accident but to be honest F1 has nothing to do with what is going on in Bahrain apart from the protestors using it to promote their feelings. I’m not saying what is going on in Bahrain is right but there is a big difference between F1 going there to race and being linked to what is happening. The whole event gave F1 a bad name and maybe in hindsight Bernie should of called it off.

However on track the action was brilliant and after losing the useless addition to the track raced on in 2010, there was plenty of overtaking and drama. After Sebastian Vettel put his car on pole for the first time in 2012 he led away, ahead of Hamilton. Meanwhile behind Grosjean and Raikkonen moved forward, while Ricciardo and Button dropped back. The whole race was a battle between Vettel and the closing Lotus’s. The true pace of the E20 showed and Raikkonen made great advances. It was refreshing to see a new team battling out front but with the laps counting down Raikkonen could not better Vettel, after he got by Grosjean earlier on. 

Just like the conditions in the air, the action on track was hot. Button fell back and retired towards the end; meanwhile Hamilton had 2 bad stops and dropped to 8^th. Some aggressive defending moves by Rosberg on Hamilton and Alonso kept them on their toes, as well as the viewer’s up out of their seats (well me anyway). There was also some great overtaking from Webber, Grosjean and Di Resta (who finished an impressive 6^th). 

The F1 fans spoke during my mini-poll on twitter, a mixed bag of reviews on the race. However some thought it was the best of the 4, here are some of your thoughts:

“@diehard_F1_Fan: Bahrain was good! It was a very entertaining race!”

“@R4crGirl: #JLF1 ignoring all the political issues it was great to see Kimi back fighting for the win in Bahrain #F1”

“@syafiko93: #JLF1 The best race so far this season is Bahrain. Lots of overtaking manoeuvres from the drivers & both Lotuses in the podium!”

So what can we take away from the first 4 races? Well…

1.       The racing is SO much closer this year.

2.       There is no clear dominant car so far.

3.       The racing is a lot cleaner.

4.       The cars have a lot less grip and…

5.       We are seeing alot of interesting design concepts being used to get that extra down force.

So could we see the closest battle for the title for some time? I really think so and hope so because there is no clear leader at the current time. However we still have a long way to go this season and things could change.

4 down, 16 to go.

Thanks to everyone for sending me your thoughts on twitter and facebook.