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An entertaining weekend and we might have got a small preview of what is to come for the rest of the season.

Qualifying had a good few twist with some surprises.  Kimi not making it out of Q1, The performance of Ferrari even if everybody new they weren’t the fastest car, Grosjean qualifying third, and the anticipation of Rosberg or Schumacher going for pole.  As you watched each session you had the feeling of a surprise but nobody new which way it was going to go.

The pattern of not being able to anticipate what was going to happen continued into the race.  Button continues to surprise and he put in a masterful performance from lights to flag.  He made a great start and controlled the race and his gaps to perfection.  Alonso again shows why many consider him to be the best driver in the world.  He took a car that should not have finished where it did and he put in a flawless drive way above and beyond where that car should have finished.  Vettel, Hamilton, and Webber all put in good drivers but nothing like Alonso and Button.  Some other drivers worth mentioning that did a good job were Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Perez, and both Toro Rosso drivers.

The disappointments for the race.  It was really bad to see Grosjean taken out through no fault of his own at the very beginning buy Maldonado.  Maldonado then went on to drive a very good race until the last lap when he made a monumental error.  While you like a guy to fight till the last lap, but why he thought he was finally going to get past Alonso is beyond just about everybody.  If he stays put in sixth place behind Alonso he would have finished with more points than Williams scored in all of last year.  I only wish I could have heard Patrick Head when he stuffed it.  Major brain fade.  The pace of the Mercedes in the race was a not what was expected.  Force India also surprised with their lack of pace in both qualifying and the race.

A good start to the season and it nice we only have to wait only a few days to get things going in Malaysia.

Remember that Fridays are a test session and this session that started out wet and ended dry even more.  Next session will be on heavy load so it might show some race pace but not much because they lost so much time in the early part of the first session

Rubens Barrichello tweet after the first session.

in this 1st session people run different amount of fuel on their cars so it is very difficult to read who is who..got to wait until tomorrow

While its great to hear drivers say what they think, but after reading this in La Stampa in Italy you can understand why the teams put very strict and well rehearsed scrips in front of their drivers.

Comparing himself with Alonso, Petrov told La Stampa newspaper: “Everyone knows that he is funded by the money from (Ferrari sponsor) Banco Santander.

“Anyway, you only get to F1 because of talent.”

And Petrov, 27, insists he does not feel sorry for Trulli.

“Life is hard,” the Italian newspaper quotes him as saying.

He admitted that having friends in F1 is impossible, while making some comments that will also not endear him to the sport’s Italian followers.

Asked to explain the rare absence of Italians on the grid, Petrov criticized the country’s junior categories and added: “Your drivers lack the passion.”

And as for Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo’s complaints about the dramatic role being played by aerodynamics in F1 at present, he responded: “When you’re not winning, it’s easy to complain.”

Petrov, however, lived in Italy in his past, revealing that his favorite elements of Italian life are “the food and the girls.”

But on the latter, he does not expect to be wheel-to-wheel with the opposite sex any time soon.

“They do not have the physical ability and also are not prepared for the high speeds. But everything in life is possible,” said Petrov.

What is surprising is that more people are not talking about these very entertaining quotes.  His comparison to Alonso is laughable.

Their are two very big difference between the Petrov and Alonso.  One is that Santander may be Spanish and a Ferrari sponsor and even pay Alonso’s huge salary, but this and other companies are partners that want to be associated with a successful driver to promote their brand.  They are not paying to get a drive for their driver, but their association to be with him.  The second is, If Alonso was available every team in the paddock would love to have him in their car, Petrov on the other hand has a considerable budget behind him and still got booted out of a mid field team and had to buy his way into a small team.  Oh one other small detail, Fernando is a double World Champion and Petrov has one podium.

The other quotes are equally amazing but that the one where he refers to Italians lacking passion is complete nonsense.  Next time he is in Italy he should go to a Kart race and see the lack of passion.

Sometime when you hear quotes like this you wonder how a guy like this can get into the position of being a F1 driver.  He should thank his lucky stars and  kiss Putin’s A**

The Formula One season starts this Friday and it is safe to say that it will probably be the usual suspects that are fighting for the wins.  It is going Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, and maybe one or two others that might be able to sneak in a few podiums or possible a win at the beginning of the year when reliability might play a factor.  The drivers on the the other hand are a bit more of a known quantity.  Their are a going to be some fierce battles in the teams this year and people are already talking about who is going to replace Massa or Webber.  Their are some new guys like Vergne, and Pic who are getting a chance and also a few drivers returning like Hulkenberg and Raikkonen which should make for some very interesting inter team battles.  Lets break down team by team and talk about who is going to be the quickest in the team and why.

Red Bull:  Vettel and Webber

If Mark can get a win or outpace Vettel in the first few race he might have a small chance of beating him on occasion.  In all likelihood after Vettel totally dominated Webber last year, it is already in Webbers head that this is Vettel’s team and that he is quicker than Mark.  Vettel is probably the second best driver in the world, his qualifying is amazing and he doesn’t make many mistakes.  So look for Vettel to beat Webber but not quite as bad as last year.

McLaren:  Hamilton and Button

While Button shocked the world last year by beating Hamilton, lets be honest it was Hamilton that beat Hamilton.  The biggest shock really came that Button could get close to Hamilton.  Jenson drove superbly last year and he is very good in varying conditions but he is just not as quick as Lewis.  Lewis is Lewis’s own worst enemy and if he can get control of his mind management this team battle will be like Red Bulls.  Hamilton is as quick as anyone and he is definitely quicker than Button.  It just boils down to what goes on between his ears, and if he controls himself better this year he should beat Button.

Ferrari:  Alonso and Massa

Alonso in my opinion is the best and most complete driver in the world.  The only other two guys that might be as quick as him are Vettel and Hamilton.  This being said Massa started to look a little better at the end of last year and with the Ferrari looking to be a handful this year, and a car that reportedly has a very small sweet spot in the set up he just might have a small chance.  Massa falls into the same category as Webber, where he is going to need to get off to a good start of the season because if he falls behind Alonso it will be game over psychologically.  Which will probably be the end of his career at Ferrari.  A very tall order indeed for Felipe.

Mercedes:  Rosberg and Schumacher

If Nico’s qualifying performances are equal to last year this should see him get the better of Micheal.  Michael did much better last year especially at the end of the year and you never want to count out Schumacher.  It would be nice to see Michael on the podium and fighting for wins and I think this would make a lot of people happy.  The two Mercedes drivers will be a tight and interesting fight but I think that youth will prevail over experience over the course of the season, but we should be in for some interesting battles this year at Mercedes.

Lotus:  Grosjean and Raikkonen

This is one that their will be a lot of people who disagree with me.  I think that Grosjean is going to beat out Kimi over the course of the year and here is why.  Grosjean is coming back to F1 this time without the having to deal with the chaos and politics that came along with the Briatore madness.  Grosjean was super quick before he had to deal with Briatore and then after he got his mojo back he was super quick again.  He has something to prove and this likely will feel like life or death to him.  if he can’t beat Kimi he will likely fade right back out of F1 again.  Kimi on the other hand has nothing to prove and is just coming back because he misses the competition of wheel to wheel driving, he doesn’t have this deep hunger that any young kid who is getting his first real shot is going to have.

Force India:  Hulkenberg and di Resta

di Resta had a very good rookie year and he is the darling of the British press but Sutil is no Hulkenberg and de Resta didn’t beat Sutil.   These two drivers are both there on merit and both deserve to be there and we should see a very close and intense team battle between these two.  This battle along with Toro Rosso are two that have me most intrigued for the year, but I see Hulk edging out di Resta.

Toro Rosso:  Vergne and Ricciardo

Fireworks will happen here.  This is a really tough one as both guys are very highly rated and have been racing against each other for years.  Ricciardo has had half a years experience from last year and did well against Liuzzi, but I thought he was going to destroy Liuzzi and it was closer than I thought.  Vergne seems to be a natural and I have heard rumblings that he could be the next big thing.  This is a very tough one to call and it will be a very close, but I am going to give the slightest edge to Vergne.  I think….

Sauber:  Kobayashi and Perez

I don’t envy Peter Sauber….   Kobyashi has shown flashes of speed and excitement but he is a bit of a loose cannon.  One minute he is having  a great race and the next he walking back to the paddock.  He is very hit or miss sometimes quick and sometimes nowhere to be found.  Very inconsistent.  Sergio Perez on the other hand I just don’t by the hype that comes along with his huge budget.  He scored points last year but was beaten by Kobayahsi and when he did score it was usually because he did one less stop than the mid field pack.  Kobayashi gets the edge here and it mostly comes down to him racing better and being more aggressive than Perez.

Williams:  Senna and Maldonado

This one could be close.  I think Senna has a bit more natural ability but he also seems very inconsistent, he started out well at Lotus last year but he never really did much after his first race in Spa.  Maldonado has many more years racing experience and his comfort level inside of Williams may see him get the edge in the beginning of the season but over twenty races you would like to think that natural ability would shine through.  So on his natural ability level and a long season I will give the edge to Senna.

Caterham:  Kovalainen and Petrov

Kovalainen yet another victim of the Briatore era.  He was another that was suppose to be the next great thing only to be chewed up and spit out by Flavio and Alonso.  Then he went to McLaren and Hamilton didn’t help his confidence level either.  Last year Heikki seemed to get back to a happy place and he destroyed Trulli power steering problem or not.  This pair is going to show the difference between a professional driver and a pay driver and Petrov will only beat Kovalainen if Kovalainen has a problem.  Qualifying 20 to 0 Kovalainen.

Marussia:  Glock and Pic

Again this is going to be another case of professional against a pay driver.  Glock has a good reputation but being uncompetitive for a few seasons may start to take the edge off.  Pic who comes in with a couple of decent showings in GP2 especially in Monaco and has a similar record to the man he replaced last year D’Ambrosio, so he just might surprise with some speed.   Unless Glock just completely looses motivation in an uncompetitive care again he should get the better of a inexperienced teammate.

HRT:  Kartheyan and de la Rosa

If history repeats itself this team will not finish with the same drivers that starts with.  They also still have Antonio Liuzzi on the books and he may get a chance this year.  The team is rumored to very short on funds which really makes you question why they put de la Rosa in the car.  Two very average drivers, one with a budget the other with a the right passport.   Let hope history does repeat itself.  Even without being in the car I pick Liuzzi as their best driver.

As the cars and team equipment is being packed away for the start of practice next week in Melbourne I thought I was time to start writing again after taking the month of February off.  It was kind of a self imposed ban and a little frustration with all that was going on with the launches and the beginning of testing.  Maybe some of the other websites and journalist should have done the same thing because not a lot has been determined other than the new cars are very ugly, and who is driving for who.  What has been amazing is the amount of coverage that testing has gotten from the press this year.  The paddock looked more like a race weekend than a test.  Sky TV in England even sent down a full crew to cover what was going on.  The results of test are we now know the same before the testing started, the cars are ugly.  What was amazing to me is that over the three test in Spain, is that people were paying attention to times and even sector times.  You would think that the people who are covering the sport would remember that this is testing.  Testing is a very structured and planned out program that the team follow, to try and develop the car before the start of the year.  Something to remember, 25 kilos of fuel can make up to seven or eight tenths of a second per lap.  Now if you don’t know how much fuel is in the car or how many laps the car has on its tires, why would anybody look at times or even sectors.  Yet some people are talking about who the favorites are.  The truth is we won’t know who is quickest until qualifying in Melbourne, and this is only the first race of a LONG season.

The amount of coverage did reveal a few things of interest that the teams were doing behind the scenes.  Most, if not all of the teams had sent two crew down to the test.  One set was running the car during the day and the other was tearing the car completely down and rebuilding it during the night, only to repeat the process each and every day of the test.  It was not only the team at the track that were putting in the hours, most of the factories were also in full swing doing simulations while the test was going on, and after the testing stop on the circuit.  The cost of labor for this testing season must have been astronomical, so much for cutting back testing to save money.

Next we will talk about the drivers and the internal battles within the teams.

After reading two different articles speaking about the conditions and if their should be a Grand Prix in Bahrain with the problems that are still going on there, I am now going to put my two cents in.  I read Mike Lawrence article on Pitpass.com “Sorry to disagree, Damon” and while I agree with him on certain points and I don’t on others, it is still a very good read.

A little background on the story.  Damon Hill who last year was fairly outspoken about F1 and how they should not be going to a place where human rights violations were being committed.  Then this year he signs a deal to work as a pundit for England’s Sky TV F1 team, and then shortly after goes with Jean Todt to Bahrain as a guest of the Royal Family and pronounces that it has reformed and it was now ok.

I am going to give credit where credit is due.  Damon as president of the BDRC did a fantastic job securing the future of the British GP by bringing Silverstone up to a level that Bernie has always wanted, and this has brought security to one of the most sacred races on the calander.  This is where my praise of one Damon Hill ends.  First of all I give very little credence to his world drivers championship.  You could have put a monkey in that  Williams car and it would have won the title that year and the next , which also shows you what I think of Jacques Villeneuve’s driving capabilities as well.   If you don’t believe me then ask M Schumacher what he thinks of Damon’s driving abilities.  When you go on a guided tour of a country that is in conflict, they are probably not going to take you to the problem areas.  So it might be wise to keep your opinions to yourself when you only see what they want you to see.  Since then the US Embassy has moved all employess out of the captial and has issued a waring to all Americans about Bahrain.

As an American I am going be very careful when speaking on the subject of world politics, but if their are human rights violations still occurring, then this race in April should not even be considered.  Although I do have a very strong opinion on the subject of the F1 calendar.   What is making me crazy is the fact that this race is even being talked about.  How is it possible that Spa is in danger of having to alternate with France (who have not even had a GP in years and should)to have a Grand Prix and that Bahrain is on the schedule when  these things are being discussed.  Spain is now another country that is rumored to be in trouble with its GP’s.   Why are the traditional tracks and countries being taken off the schedule (money, I know) for Bahrain who missed the race last year and are causing concerns for this year race.  If they have to abandon this year again they should be taken off the calendar permanently.   This might be  a time for Bernie not to take the cash and look out for the better of the sport and let Bahrain sort out its own troubles.

This week starts the beginning of the new car launches.  Today it was the Caterham and then the first week in February just about everybody else will show the new cars to the world just prior to the first test.  Todays launch of the new Caterham and the most notable feature was what is being referred to as the “platypus” nose.  The new regulations have lowered the height of the front nose, so the new lower nose as it meets the front suspension pick-ups their is a significant rather awkward step up hence the nickname.

At Ferrari this week both Massa and Alonso were at the factory for their seat fittings and final prep work for the test.  Then both drivers and ten other Ferrari personnel left for Lanzorate Canary Islands for some pre season training.

Pirelli are in Abu Dhabi having a media event and Vitaly Petrov was invited to do some demonstrations.  Within hours Petrov was being named as the official Pirelli test driver in the press.  Not much longer Paul Hembery was tweeting that is was all rubbish.  Typical January speculation.

Lotus had Kimi in a two year old car with Pirelli demonstration rubber on it and did over 600km in two days.  Then after he was saying he is going to need a bit of time to get use to the new tires but the love affair has started and the team were praising him, his driving, and professionalism.  Let see how long this last when Grosjean is quicker than him.   Lotus also fired up the new car for the first time today.

Jaime Alguersuari is still has no news regarding his future but he was doing some kart training somewhere in Spain today.  Well at least de la Rosa has an F1 ride.

Ron Dennis was spotted in Los Angeles this week for the opening of the new Mclaren road car showroom in Beverly Hills and Newport Beach.

Rubens Barrichello on Monday and Tuesday of next week will be testing a KV Racing Indycar at Sebring.  Speaking to Totalrace he confirmed the Indycar test was to help his “brother” (Tony Kanaan) and to try a new car.  He said he doesn’t have a contract for 2012 and his future is still open.  Later Rubens sent a tweet to Kanaan saying “look I am in my new office” while he was having a seat fitting. Kanaan’s response was “after you are done playing return it, it’s mine…    Gozar Rubinho.

I really dislike this time of year and it has been very hard to post anything.  The main reason is that nothing is going on.  Every website and blog are putting up every rumor and most of the post are just speculation and then comes all the comments on the speculation.  It just a big waste of time….

This week we finally got some actual news and it was out of Williams.  They announced a one year deal with Bruno Senna to finally end all the speculation on who will get the final Williams Renault seat. This will give Bruno his fair crack in the top flight.  He is in England now working at the factory with his new engineers and in the simulator so he will be able to test and go into the season as prepared as all the other regular drivers.

This also looks to be the end of the line for Rubens very distinguished F1 career, although their is a story going around Brasil that he could be brought back to help develop the car.  Not sure what the point of that would be, because it is racing that Rubens wants not car development.  He has said a few things on his twitter page, mostly about being open to new series but no details.  I am glad to hear that he won’t be coming to the states to race  in Indycar at the “request” of his wife because of the ovals.  Stay home for a while and enjoy your family.  Parabens Rubens….

The other talking point of the month was a system on the front of the Lotus car that prevents the front of the car from diving under braking.  The other teams are already looking at it and the FIA has said that a few other teams have talked to them about their own system.  This will no doubt be a benefit aerodynamically as it keeps the car level, it will also make braking more stable, but my question is how it will effect turn-in into the corner  when their will be less weight on the front tires.  If it works you can bet the rest of the field will be adding the hydraulic inerter to their car.  Their have been similar systems that have been used in the past to help with the diving of the front end under braking but this one is said to be the lightest.  For the time being it has been approve and deemed legal by the FIA.

So their is still one more seat a Hispania left and this should be it on the drivers front.  Liuzzi has a contract but the rumor is he will be replace and the price is going to start at 6 million Euros.

It was nice to have some time off and enjoy time with family and friends over the holidays and even though their were no new post I was still watching what was going on in the F1 circles.  For all of you who weren’t keeping up with things you didn’t miss much as just about everything was rumors and a lot of he said, she said.

One of the thing worth watching was Peter Windsor’s do an Interview with former F1 driver/ TV Analyst  John Watson on Peterwindsor.com.  John was a very handy driver in his day but he may be even better behind the microphone.  He tells great stories from days gone by and he also not afraid to give his opinion on the current crop of drivers.

The biggest talking point over the last few weeks seems to be Williams.  They still only have one driver and they have ended their relationship with American Telecom giants AT&T.  On the first of January they removed all AT&T logos from their web site and facebook page and quite a few web sites made a big deal about this.  Without confirming this with Williams, I am pretty sure they new about it for some time, it was just that the contract ended on Dec. 31.  On the driver front their has been no official word, but lots of speculation.  Most of the talk has been around Barrichello, Senna, and Sutil, with most people thinking that Rubens is going to get the nod.  It doesn’t seem that anybody has any idea who is actually going to get the seat and with the loss of their main sponsor it even makes it more difficult to speculate.  Just because a driver has a budget doesn’t mean that he will get a seat, their still has to be a fit with the team and the other sponsors.  For example Senna has been backed by Embratel (Brazilian Telecom Co.) for years and one of the companies that is being linked to Williams is Qtel (Qatar Telecom) so this is never going to be a match for the team.  So if Williams gets the support of Qtel then they could still take Senna but Embratel surely wouldn’t be part of it.  Sutil has a similar problem with Medion computers his personal sponsor, which is now owned by Lenovo which left Williams a few years ago.  So if they left the team a few year ago would they really go back with a different brand?  Maybe these are some of the reasons that Rubens is leading the speculation poles right now, simplicity.   The truth is Frank, Adam Parr, and Toto are probably the only three who know exactly what is going on.

The FIA have also tried to “clarify the rules of overtaking”, by stating if a driver defends the inside line he is allowed to move back onto the racing line but must give the challenging car at least one cars width of room on the outside.  What a joke, this is just going to clutter things up more.  Just let them race and be consistent with the enforcing the rules, Johnny Herbert.

In the last week there was another driver line up announced.  It was not big shock to hear that Force India are going to have Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg as their race drivers in 2012.  This doesn’t really change anything with the available seats since it was what everybody already new.

The available seats are one at Williams, one at HRT, and possibly one at Caterham GP (old Team Lotus) if they decide to go for money over Jarno Trulli.  Here are some of the people being linked to the available seats.  Today Rubens Barrichello was reportedly at Williams trying to convince the team that he is the best person for the drive, and then he flew back to Brasil for Christmas.  Bruno Senna has also been talking to to the team as has the manager of Adrian Sutil.  According to Senna, Williams are talking to the engineers at both Force India and also Renault to hear about  both Senna and Sutil.

At HRT new team boss Luis Perez-Sala is in conversation with several drivers about their second seat and Alguesuari is not one of them.  This could be a smokescreen because Jaime is very calm about his future and he is not saying anything.  The list of drivers for this seat could be extremely long and will most likely go to a driver that is bringing with them some major funding.

If Caterham decide to go for some money instead of Trulli there is a rumor that Petorv could get be one of the candidates, with another being Luiz Raiza their reserve driver.

Some other news:

One rumor that was out there this week is that Sutil is going after the second Ferrari seat if Massa is replaced in 2013.  No doubt this was put out by Sutil’s manager, but somehow I don’t think that Ferrari are going to pick up the leftovers from Force India.

Ferrari are thought to have an offer for the injured Robert Kubica when he is ready to test sometime in spring, and will provide a  two year old car at Fiorano.

Fernando Alonso is ending his marriage of five years to Spanish pop singer Raquel del Rosario.

Bernie Ecclestone has said that he doesn’t believe that the United States will ever embrace F1.