I do not want to say this was the best race of the season but it sure was entertaining. We could see some serious racing with overtaking up and down the grid, we had a safety car following a crash (luckily without any serious injury), we could see a serious strategy blunder and impressive recovery from it and 2 Brazilians on podium, one of them being Piquet jr. !

McLaren dominated the weekend from Friday but the close fight between Massa and Hamilton in qualifying promised some possibility of a fight for the race win. At the end we had a fight but more thanks to McLaren getting it wrong than Ferrari getting it right. Lewis Hamilton pulled away right from the start and Massa never looked like a serious opposition. Early on even Kovalainen was a threat but after few laps Massa pulled away from him. Not sure why because Heikki was not that much more heavy than Massa. In the meantime Hamilton managed to build a decent lead in front.

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F1Wolf

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After some Monaco drizzle we had the first proper wet to extreme wet race this year. It has provided us with all that can be expected - lots of spins, pit stop and strategy dilemas and some surprising faces on the podium.

It is not easy to review this race without missing something. A lot was happening on the track, the commercial breaks on ESPN Star came always in the wrong moment and Steve Slater did again his best to confuse us all with mixing up the driver names and talking bull while important things were happening on the track. How can someone like this guy keep the job with a TV station that broadcasts all over Asia is a mystery to me. But back to racing …

When we look back at the end of the season for the start of the year then Lewis Hamilton’s start to British GP will be high on the list of candidates. Starting from 4th but almost in the lead after few corners. Only very sharp defensive driving from his team mate kept him in second position. I am not sure McLaren pit wall enjoyed those few opening corners watching both their drivers getting way too close for comfort on the wet and slippery track. Both McLarens pulled away with Kimi Raikkonen in 3rd safely behind (safely for McLarens but safely for Kimi too). Hamilton kept pushing and Kovalainen kept defending. But then on lap 4 all of a sudden Kovalainen let Hamilton pass … TV applauded that as a great overtaking maneuvre from Hamilton, to me it looked like team orders in place …

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F1Wolf

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We sure have seen better races then 2008 French GP but we still got few servings of racing excitement despite utter Ferrari domination.

The only chances for others to mess with Ferrari were either at the race start, rain intervention or something going terribly wrong for one or both Ferrari drivers. At the race start all the fighting took part behind the two red cars and 1-2 order Kimi-Felipe has been set from the beginning. Kimi was 2-3 tenths faster and safely pulled away from Massa. The race at least at the top looked settled early on. The first round of pit stops changed nothing and Kimi seemed to be set for a win. Then however came lap 36 (just about half the race distance) and Raikkonen’s car began to slow down. The reason became obvious quickly. A big hole burned in the side of Raikkonen’s car and the exhaust pipe kept bouncing around hanging only on a piece of wire. Raikkonen kept on going but it did not take long for Massa getting ahead of him and claiming the lead. Surprisingly Raikkonen’s car held together till the end and Kimi returned to the podium after 2 races without any points. Felipe Massa cruised to the finish and claimed his 8th career win. This win also means Massa now leads the championship for the first time in his F1 career …

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F1Wolf

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The race start was little disappointing - all the cars made it and for the first 13 laps the race was rather uneventful. Lewis Hamilton pulled away from Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen. He looked like the man to beat. The only excitement came from Nelson Piquet overtaking every car that got in his way. But then Adrian Sutil spun off and safety car was out on track. Once the pitlane opened pretty much all the cars that were not on one stop strategy dived into pitlane. Raikkonen and Kubica jumped ahead of Hamilton after their pitstops but had to stop at the red light at the pitlane exit. Lewis Hamilton did not look up to check the light, he did not look ahead to check the cars in front him and hit the rear end of Raikkonen’s car. Nico Rosberg joined the party moments later and rammed into Hamilton. Kubica escaped unscathed but Hamilton and Raikkonen were out of the race…

Hamilton’s stupid mistake opened the door for BMW Sauber. It looked first the luck was on Heidfeld’s side. Once the race restarted he pulled away from the field helped by not that quick Barrichello in second place. After his pitstop he still returned ahead of his team mate but the “hint” on team radio about slowing down lighter Kubica made the trick. Kubica passed Heidfeld and never looked back. BMW drivers were definitely helped by misfortune of their main rivals but … they grabbed the opportunity and more importantly made no mistakes in a race that was all about not making any mistakes … Deserved 1-2 finish for BMW and clearly popular win for Kubica just about a year after his scary crash at the same track … Nick Heidfeld now remains the only driver without DNF this season … Did not make him to look too happy on the podium though …

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F1Wolf

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It has been suggested several times that the surest way how to secure an exciting F1 race is to sprinkle the track with water. It looks like we had just about the right amount of water to create an exciting race. We had changing weather, we had changing strategies, we had the top drivers making mistakes, we had some spectacular crashes, we had few drivers scoring their first points this season and we also had tears. That was Monaco 2008.

Lewis Hamilton was the favourite to win this race but that was before the qualifying. To start from P3 was not the expected result but McLaren were confident the strategy will play in their hands. They were right, but it was the strategy Ferrari got wrong that helped at the end. To win a race in Monaco in such treacherous conditions requires some sublime skills and a fair share of luck at the same time. But looking back at the race, I must say he was three times lucky. First he hit the barrier, punctured his tyre and was lucky not to crash out of the race. Then thanks to “Trulli train” he returned from the pitlane in 5th place, still well within the reach of the front runners. And finally he managed to finish the race despite punctured tyre, probably from Rosberg’s car debris. His luck should however take nothing away from his performance. Unlike Raikkonen and Alonso for example he kept his head cool and secured his third Monaco win, first in Formula 1.

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F1Wolf

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First point to make about this race is - the race had flying start (see the picture above). Second - we actually had a race. There were cars that raced each other ! Third point to make about this race is a question - would Lewis Hamilton even start the race under 2005 rules that prevented tyre changes ?

Felipe Massa is becoming the King of Istanbul track. Three pole postitions in a row, three wins in a row. He is the first driver since Michael Schumacher to win three consecutive races at the same Formula 1 track … He had a perfect start and created nice gap between himself and Hamilton before even reaching Turn 1. He lost his lead later on in the race when Hamilton overtook him, but at that time Massa was already aware of Hamilton’s 3 stop strategy and did exactly defend hard. He reclaimed his lead after another round of pitstops and held it rather comfortably. Massa wnet on to win his 7th F1 race, 3th consecutive Turkish GP and second race this year. After 2 DNFs early on Massa made it to the podium 3 times in a row. He is now officially back in the hunt for the title.

It was not the best weekend for Massa’s team mate and the championship leader Kimi Raikkonen. His troubles started on Friday already and stuck with him for the rest of the weekend. He collided with Heikki Kovalainen at the start and damaged his front wing. He still however managed to record the fastest lap of the race and finish on podium. Nothing spectacular from the defending champion, pretty much a damage limitation weekend …

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F1Wolf

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It has been busy few days for me and it took me 2 days to finish the Spanish GP review. Here it comes finally… I apologize for a dull format without pictures this time .

Four races, three Ferrari wins, two 1-2 finishes, red cars leading both championships and Ferrari friendly Turkey track next … Things have turned around a bit since Melbourne …

After Fernando Alonso squeezed in between Raikkonen and Massa in qualifying there was a chance Renault may spoil the race for Ferrari. Massa’s good start put an end to those worries and from then on it was Ferrari’s race. The gap between them and Hamilton and Kubica was not that big but this may be down to the safety car period and Ferrari preserving the machinery towards the end of the race.

Hamilton returned to the podium for the first time since Melbourne. The race of both McLarens has been compromised by their qualifying. Fifth and sixth places on the grid are not the best places from where to launch the attack on the podium. The positive sign for McLaren is that they did not seem to be too much off the pace of Ferrari. The worry must be the BMW Sauber … The talking point of the race however was the heavy crash of Heikki Kovalainen. It looked very scary and to me even worse than the crash of Robert Kubica in Montreal last year. It is amazing to see how much protection the current F1 cars give to drivers. It is hard to believe that somebody can survive an impact like that with pretty much no injuries at all. At the same time crashes like this are a reminder that F1 is still a dangerous sport …

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F1Wolf

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First two races, more than 10% of the season are behind us. Ron Dennis may claim that only Spanish GP will show the true form of the teams but why wait. Let’s look at who has been good and who has not so far.

The Good

BMW Sauber – They had worrying start to their winter tests with their new car but how they turned things around. Fernando Alonso considered them to be the dark horses of the 2008 season and it looks like he has been right. The team may not be yet ready to mount the title challenge. But they are surprisingly close to the pace of McLarens. It may not be impossible to score a race win on merit later on this season. And with the current reliability and Massa woes Ferrari are experiencing, the maiden win may not be too far.

Toyota – Surprise surprise. But looking back to team’s performance in the last winter test it perhaps should not be that unexpected. Jarno Trulli claims they are now 4th best team (same claim Rosberg has about Williams). I would not probably say that. But Toyota firmly claimed their place in stronger end of the midfield, along with Williams and Red Bull.

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F1Wolf

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