Finally the F1 season sees a complete race with no safety car but the results still pretty much look the same with last year's mid-pack winning, last year's leaders scrapping it out for points or completely failing and some of the traditional bottom feeders having their way with the field.  Congrats to Jenson and Ross on another excellent race.

I was most impressed in this race by overall reliability.  Only one retirement and we didn't see a rash of brake failure, KERS failure, engine failure.  That was a great thing in this race and there was a good bit of racing going on through out the field.

KERS and tires have combined potentially along with super diffusers air stream disruption to create a frustrating combination of passing possibilities that still just can't happen.  I hope that F1 will allow a little wind tunnel testing of "regular" vs. "super" diffuser testing with two cars in the wind tunnel to see if the air flow disruption is negating all the work of last year's team focused on increasing the amount of passing.  The differences in tire compounds are creating very interesting options (Toyota really misjudged on tires and Ross Braun showed his superior skills) but we are still ending up with less passing options.  I think it has a bit less to do with the diffuser than KERS but would love the wind tunnel testing.  KERS is definitely killing passing options and this race had a number of times where a slower overall lap car with KERS was able to hold off and delay a non-KERS car.  The power to weight ratio trade off pays off huge down the straights.  I am one that likes the ability for F1 teams to push technology and gain advantages but F1 either has to have more homogeneous cars or accept that passing on track may always be limited.  KERS did have an effect off the line for Hamilton and during the race enabled him to hold off faster cars but Button was able to use superior lap speed and overall strategy. 

Mark Weber who seems to be cursed with bad luck picked up 7 positions but still had to be disappointed and had he not been blocked in qualifying had the potential.  But the fact that he didn't get taken out at the first corner, his car made it to the finish and he got some position...still vs. Vettel he is going to be aging a lot if this keeps up.

Piquet - didn't do anything to really help his cause.

BMW to finish below the Force India cars and lose 5 positions, this is the team that has to really figure something out soon.  Ferrari made some progress but still needs a lot of work but BMW is just ouch. 

Bahrain, the layout itself isn't terrible but it is just an ugly race.  There is just (at least on TV) no character to a track set in the middle of a flat tan desert.  I look forward to the series moving to Europe.

We are hours away from the start of the Bahrain GP and finally we may see a complete race not run under the safety car.  Ferrari seems to have gotten over some of its execution issues getting both drivers to Q3 but they still are off the pace.  I am still amazed by the pace of Red Bull and the brilliance of Adrian Newey. 

Overall this should be a great race with lots of unknowns:

• How will the two tire compounds hold out as well as the brakes?
• Will KERS systems also live through the race heat or will anybody get a hot seat?
• Button and Hamilton go out on identical fuel load but Button is +.15 faster will KERS be a difference?
• Can Weber mount any kind of charge?  He is relatively light but he needs to not get taken out in what will probably be a crazy turn 1.
• Can Piquet keep his head in the game?  How did he go slower in Q2 than Q1
• BMW is going super heavy, will they be able to stay near enough to make it to the points? I believe that one will.

So it should be a great race, I need to get to bed soon so I can get up early and watch.

The Malaysian Grand Prix started pretty well, plenty of on track action, racing was clean, a variety of strategies but then was marred by becoming the second race to end under a safety car and worse yet, with too few laps run.  I blame Bernie’s grand plan of euro alignment for races.  Yes, we will bring racing around the world and want to make F1 the pinnacle of motorsport but that only good if it is perfect viewing time for Europe…who cares if the light conditions are poor for racing or if we are in monsoon season and racing in the late afternoon when monsoon rains typically come.  It is a waste and I was glad I was watching it on the DVR so I could just fast forward through 1/2 of the cars sitting on the grid while tried to decide what to do.  Don’t get me wrong, I like a little rain on occasion in a race but not like this.

As for the race, again Brawn GP was awesome and I think in watching Brawn GP vs. Ferrari we are seeing how Ferrari is definitely missing Brawn and Co. and the structure and organization he brought to the team.  Now we have a Ferrari that doesn’t realize their driver’s time won’t hold up and doesn’t even get out of Q1, a team that struggles to have reliability (who formerly was the benchmark for reliability).  Now we have Brawn going from Honda who could barely find their way to the track to the team that is killing the field.

Nico Rosberg – drove a fantastic first stint but somehow they fell apart at the pit.  I haven’t really figured this one out but to take 1/2 point after a brilliant show of pace it is really disappointing.  By contrast the BMW with Heidfeld somehow taking 2nd place this ending just was strange. 

So, I like the cars, I like the passing, I love Brawn GP and Williams and even Toyota being competitive and that McLaren is struggling mightily but the season has to improve and not just on European soil.

Rubens said at the end of the race that he was hit in the rear (along with plenty of other contact) damaging the “magic” diffuser.  If true, the cars are still the class of the field diffuser or not and this will be very problematic for the other major hitters, especially McLaren Mercedes.  Button was off for a lovely Sunday drive and if there was anything bad in this race it is that no one really could mount a challenge at the front in spite of a safety car, and really bad 2nd pit stop by Button/Team and what I think was not the optimal tire choice.  The rest of the field definitely showed that the new changes are making a difference in passing opportunities (though this may be more a factor of the cars just being very different this year). 

Overall, I would imagine that the marketing director for Brawn GP will be quite active over the next week and that there will be more than Bridgestone and Virgin branding on cars and drivers for next weekend’s race.  What an encouraging thing for USF1 to look at though this team is starting with a lot of time together. 

KERS vs. non-KERS is interesting but it also means that cars that maybe would get passed can impede others with a little boost of power at critical points.  I do feel that it is going to play into reliability all year.  As the season wears on I think we will find that passing may even out with prior seasons but at least more chances will be taken.

Hamilton showed that in spite of a lagging car, he can still manage a race very well.

Tire management is definitely and issue with two compounds that are now much different from each other.

Time of day – racing as the sun goes down, I think that is a dangerous proposition.  I don’t know that this gave us the best experience and I am against the general euro-centric ranglings of the schedule.  Unless F1 is going to stay a European driven championship

The cars are definitely flighty with some wild sliding on the grid at the flag drop and wild first corner

What a sweet way to start the new season, the baby team of Brawn F1 takes down the big boys and Jenson Button reasserts himself as the driver we knew he can be with equipment and a team that executes.  I am stoked to watch tonight, I love the “saturday night” races.  That it is all second tier teams up front until Kubica what a way to get underway and what a mess last year’s champions look. 

A few years back F1 seemed like it was heading back in many ways to its roots with the potential that all of the teams would become road car manufacturer owned.  This is only kind of like the ‘old’ days in that early teams like Ferrari started as racing teams that built production cars to help support their racing business or to meet the rules for various classifications.  As F1 progressed it has been filled with a number of small “manufacturers” who only build race cars and often only build F1 cars.  I was a bit sad when these teams started going away to be replaced by passenger car vendors: Toyota, Honda, Renault, etc.  Sure there was the odd one out but we started losing the flair of Jackie Stewart Racing, or Jordan, etc.  Part of this was driven by the incredible rising expenses of F1 racing but also by the desire for the major manufacturers to tap in to the large global F1 audience. 

Now probably more due to the financial straits many mainstream manufacturers find themselves in but aided by cost reduction efforts and a number of wealthy individuals who themselves can’t go racing but can own a team we see the re-emergence of boutique manufacturers.  With Honda’s exit and the quick pick up to Brawn GP, the announcement of USF1 I think there will building excitement different from what the consumer vendors can bring.  We like the little teams; for instance, I love it when Williams is killing Toyota.

I wish USF1 could be ready out of the gate this year because the large disruption in rules, aero dynamics, etc. will play toward disruption on the grid though it will be a challenge for small teams to compete with the wind tunnel abilities of the bigs.  My hope is that Brawn F1 (beautiful car) will make some big advancements over the crappy years of Honda but even if they don’t I think it is healthy for the sport to have more specialty teams.  Partnering with majors as engine suppliers, etc. is fine but F1 is about a dream, I will never own an F1 car and probably never drive one and I am very glad that F1 didn’t become Cadillac, Ford, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Honda, Renault, etc. This to me is part of the dream…mythic cars, mythic drivers, epic races.

Just announced by the FIA, the driver with the most race wins is the champion.  Thus if you have 6 great wins and maybe get taken out in a race you can't be surpassed by a driver with 5 wins and all the rest are seconds.  I think this is great in that it takes out that you can have a bad race (generally due to accident) and it restrengthens the championship focus on winning.

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has approved a change to the points systems for this year’s drivers’ championship, which will see the title awarded to the driver with the most race wins. The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system.
If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the existing structure...

I am excited for the new F1 season with a return to slicks, and other moves designed to increase overtaking (if that actually works, weather seems to be the best at this) and the launch of the new cars is the first real step.  The new F60 looks pretty cool except the new rear wing looks so narrow and overly high, it kind of breaks up what is a tight, low to the ground cool looking car.  I love the new mirror attachments to the sidepods, and the sidepods sweep in beautifully to the rear.  From the front the new front wing looks ok but in comparison to the back wing it looks a bit awkwardly large and the rear wing looks like some sick appendage from a dirt track sprint car.  In a side view it all looks fine though the rear end plates are a bit large. 

It will be interesting to see what the other manufacturers do with the new box formula and it is the action on track that I am really excited to get on with.  73 days till the flag drops in Australia!

The pictures were great and as I thought accidents would be there causing yet another GP winner for this season but Nico was 2nd instead of the win and Alonso pulls off a great win.  But beyond what looked a great atmosphere, great view of the cars but beyond that the track needs some work.  It is way too bumpy, it came way too close to the 2 hour time limit, they could remove a couple corners, especially the left/right/left that basically was treated as a single very tight (width) left.  I like passing that requires some work but you need at least 2 legitimate spots to pass especially on a long lap like that.  In general the concept of a street race is cool but it doesn't seem after Spain and Singapore that the races themselves (at least for TV) are not always the best.  Fortunately it didn't rain or this race would have been a disaster.

Ferrari has to lose the pit lights structure.  It is cool but you can't have errors like they had today that destroyed Massa's race and potentially the championship besides becoming a very dangerous incident with fuel and hose flying all over.  Not that humans don't make errors as was shown later with RedBull but the lights just are not all worked out and it is quicker to correct the "oops the lollipop went up to fast" and Ferrari is very well trained in the first place.  7 points in 3 races, unless Ferrari can rack up a set of 1-2 finishes or McLaren screws up the lights may have cost Ferrari the championship.

FIA must come up with a better policy still for pitting under the safety car.  With an accident right at the first pit window it can't be good spectacle wise or safety wise to have cars running out of fuel and once the lane opens especially when everyone is on fumes you drive a rush and stacking situation which may be what lead to Ferrari's light malfunction.

SeB was a poor showing given his experience racing street circuits at night and a motivation potentially to do well for Paul Newman.  On one hand Renault has to still be disappointed in the performance of Piquet Jr but on the other hand it was his "performance" that really made Alonso's win possible so Fernando should be most grateful. 

I love the look of the cars under the lights, they did a great job there, HD on this will be outstanding, the blue exhaust flames, the great detail on the cars, you can really see driver's eyes (how can Hamilton go so long without blinking??) and the surrounding scenery is pretty cool, especially on the aerial shots when you see the traffic on other surface street fly-overs above the track.  However, you don't get that same feel (so far at least) of the throngs of fans out in the sun with flags waving and the fact that it is pretty pitch black off the track removes some of the where are they at perspective when watching a lap.

However the track is BUMPY, looks to be slick and if they do get daily rain so that it doesn't rubber up this race could be a parade and a good shot for a number of offs and accidents, especially if it rains at the race.  Rain at the track with lights would just be a mess so I am hoping for a miracle of dry days.  Seeing a race like this on bumpy city streets makes me hope that we could bring back another US street race, the return of Long Beach...I would love it.

Because of the factors of track  condition, potential for accidents (that pit exit is terrible), and rain I think there is a good possibility to see yet another winner for the season in this race.  Alonso? Nico? that would be pretty cool

What a wild a whacky set of races this F1 season has been.  Certainly the Italian GP was no different with the fastest track being spoiled by rain.  But I always love how rainy weather throws such an element of randomness into the mix of a race and I love the at the end of the race today we heard the German and Italian national anthems paired together again, not for Schumi and Ferrari this time but for Vettel and STR (powered by Ferrari).  The young German had quite the weekend and after many faithful years for the Minardi F1 Fan Club, this has to be quite the day of celebration.  Yes, the Minardi team name has been gone for a couple years but the spirit of a junior team with a tiny staff compared to the 1000 or so at McLaren and others, the youngest pole sitter and race winner ever in F1, this was a great day in racing.  It was a spectacular bit of driving and strategy and Vettel is to be congratulated.

Now we move on to the first ever night race as the circus shifts to Asia and then on to its finish in Brazil.  How sweet it will be if it stays close and Massa can seal the victory on home turf.  As much as I love a little rain thickened plot, I also hope that we can see some good, clear Massa/Hamilton competition and flat out racing.  Hamilton's drive to come from 15th to 7th was brilliant at times.  Monza is usually such a fast track with several great places to pass, those elements were both lost a good bit with the rain.

Finally a new license has been granted to create an F1 game title.   Codemasters has some great racing games like the Clin McRae rally series and since the Microprose GP3 years, F1 fans have been missing out on driving the virtual season.  So it was great to see this announcement from the FIA today:

Codemasters expects the first game based on the FIA Formula One World Championship to launch in 2009.

The Official Formula 1 Website

It is a while to wait but we should end up with a great HD gaming experience.

What fun this new F1 season should be with new teams, lots of driver/team changes, Ross Brawn trying to take a 3rd team to the promise land...or at least from the bottom of the grid and cars with no traction control and other assorted drivers aids.  Qualifying and practice showed that no longer does it look like these guys are out for a Sunday afternoon drive in the park but that they really are working hard and it will be interesting to see what the increased physical requirements to not just mash the pedal to the floor and to correct for oversteer will have over the course of a race.  I think it will create a much higher opportunity for mistakes which should lead to more passing and it will really separate those that have extraordinary conditioning and mental focus.  And the race is just over 10 hours away, I am very psyched.

Lewis Hamilton lost his drivers license for speeding in France if only he drove for Renault this would not have happened :-)

What a win for Ferrari and Räikkönen and a brilliant race overall.  Hamilton I am sure is dissappointed and the championship really has been his to hold for most of the season but it really seemed like the last few races he let the moment overrule the season.  He drove great in Japan but was fortunate not to be penalized, he had a total lapse in China and again in Brazil in the urge to "win the moment" he lost the championship and it is fortunate for Alonso that he didn't end up taking both of them out.  I have no doubt that there is a long great career ahead though it won't get easier, Ferrari will stay strong, Alonso has many good years still, BMW could pull it together and thus it may be more than the four way we had going much of this season. 

Massa, outstanding race and Kimi must always be in your debt for getting the win he needed to win the championship especially in your home race.  Brilliant qualifying, outstanding race performance I would really like to see next year be his.

I miss the Schumacher leap, the German with Italian passion.  But it was good to see a new flying Finn and his own joy in victory.  I was really happy to see his arm come over to thank his teammate during the interviews because while he had a great race, he did not have the pace of Felipe.

Renault, what a poor ending they made, as much as Hamilton had mistakes, their young very promising star really fell off.  This has been an amazing and odd season.  Barrichello with no points and Honda just missfiring all around.  Amazing rookie performances, customer cars outdoing the manufacturers, the tarnish of spying, lots of rain, and overall a lot of exciting racing. 

Next year, no traction control and depending on off-season driver moves and other odd bits the opportunity that it may be an even wilder year.  But for now, Kimi is champion and has finally overcome the curse of being blazing fast and seriously unlucky.  Maybe Mark Webber can take hope in that though I don't think he is quite as blazing.  Another stupendous year for the Tifosi, well done.

And for what is worth, congratulations to Kimi on the DHL Fastest Lap Award...ahh those wonderful sponsor made up things.

Another awesome race with a bit of wet and fantastics results from a point of making it a tight championship for the final race.  Amazing seeing Hamilton on overworn tires go off entering the pits.  A shame that Masa couldn't get Alonso on Alonso's out lap because he was faster and that would make it all even tigher. 

More amazing is what is up with Honda and Scuderia Tora Rosa.  Vettel with a 4th and Liuzzi in the points too.  Scott Speed may have had a 7th place in his first run in stock cars but either Vettel is much better or the car has really come together.  Probably a combo here given the fact that Liuzzi performed so well too.  BMW has lost somethign the last couple races and Kovalainen was dissappointing after an awesome race in Japan. 

A shame for Ralph, he was having a good race weekend for a change.