Another race weekend gone, and what a cracker it was! The “early flyaway races” portion of the season is done, resulting in three different winners in four races, and now the F1 circus moves on to Europe for hopefully better weather and definitely more viewer friendly race start times! This edition on TGTB&TB will be a race review special, with next week’s instalment back on track with all the latest news stories.

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Comments!

Simon wants to talk technical:

Well, good question, and thanks for the compliment. I think the ride height issue is now over. The FIA have clarified the rules, so McLaren have stopped work on what they thought was a legal system. I don’t think the Red Bull even HAD active suspension, or anything remotely like it. They just have an extremely well designed car that is efficient at low and high ride heights, and slow and fast corners. There will be no mud-slinging this year, but don’t hold your breath!

And on with the column….

The Good

Jenson Button worked his magic again to win in China, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton following him over the line for, let’s face it, an unlikely McLaren 1-2. Button’s drive was measured, poised and calculated, while Hamilton yet again showed the blood and guts determination of previous rounds while finally having something substantial to show for it. His moves on Vettel, Sutil, and Schumacher were sublime. In essence, it was both drivers performing to their strengths perfectly. There were some blips along the way (see The Bad), but an excellent result for both drivers and the team in general, and also showing the world that British is the buzzword in F1 right now. Just don’t mention the Prost and Senna comparison.

Renault also had another impressive weekend, and this time it wasn’t just one driver. Vitaly Petrov finally delivered where it mattered, on race day, and in conditions which caught out several experienced drivers. That’s three straight weeks in The Good for the team, can’t ask for much more than that. Robert Kubica brought home some more points with an impressive fifth place, and it’s a good sign of where the team is aiming if he felt disappointed on missing out on a podium.

Anyone else enjoy the break from the grating noise that is Eddie Jordan?

The putting off of Red Bull domination by the elements has really opened up the sport after the debacle of Bahrain. It’s still up in the air just how close Ferrari and McLaren are to the Red Bulls across a wholly dry weekend now we’re a few rounds down and all the small bugs are ironed out of all the cars. The European season, starting with Barcelona, should bring us a better understanding of the pecking order of the grid.

Nico Rosberg now has a serious and legitimate claim to not only be the number one driver for Mercedes, but also someone whose consistency has put him in the title hunt (so far). Another podium brings him up to second, ten points off Button, and in my view is the only driver who has the highest average performance over the first four rounds, in terms of qualifying as well as racing. A superb future lies ahead for this young man.

And now, the Michael Schumacher situation. This is in The Good for the reason that I’m glad that he isn’t doing as well as everyone wanted. And not because of the Damon Hill incident. Let’s think about it in terms of the sport. If a driver decides to make a return to F1 after a three year period and he was immediately getting pole and winning races, would that not immediately discredit all the successful drivers in the period he was away? What do you think?

The Bad

Sebastien Buemi’s qualifying accident was extremely uncomfortable to watch. Having any kind of failure at that speed is pretty scary but it was good to see the Swiss driver straight out the Toro Rosso and only just a bit shaken. Catch it on YouTube if you haven’t seen it yet.

The current form of Williams is extremely disappointing. Yes, the team may have got the decisions wrong during tough weather conditions but a team of this calibre and history, with what they’ve been touting as a good car for them, should do a whole lot better. Maybe the Cosworth engine isn’t as grunty as last years bullet-proof Toyota, but severely disappointing all round. Must do better.

The pit lane has always been one of the key places to overtake a rival, but side-by-side down the pit lane itself? Are you kidding?! I can’t fault both Red Bull and McLaren lollipop men for releasing the cars so close together, but both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel should know better than to do something so irresponsible, and they were very lucky not to leave the event with suspended race bans, especially Vettel for squeezing Hamilton back into the pit garages. Reckless.

Another pit incident was Fernando Alonso overtaking Felipe Massa while coming into the sharp pit entrance. Why risk not only your race, but your team-mates race, while stopping at the same time? Everyone involved has put on stony faces and declared it a racing incident, but is there something else going on at the home of the Prancing Horse? It may just be a trivial incident, but I just can’t quite shake that feeling there is.

And finally, I don’t think Jenson was right to park at the hairpin just before the safety car re-start. Mark Webber flew off the track as he jostled for postion with Hamilton and Vettel. What would Button have achieved if there had been another race disruption? Two more laps behind the same safety car? Not what you need when you’re trying to win a grand prix. A small black mark against his name for the time being.

The Backmarkers

We have a new member to The Backmarkers this week. The latest addition to the back of the grid is…..BMW Sauber Ferrari! Yep, it’s now official; the team with two manufacturers in its name is now exclusive to this part of the article until fortunes improve. A great pre-season had me thinking otherwise, but it was all a con to get a big sponsor on board, which failed miserably. Another poor showing in China, but Pedro De La Rosa was running in the top five when his engine gave up, so a small glimmer at least.

Virgin yet again fails to get to the finishing line, although they did manage to be the fastest of the new teams in qualifying. Not getting the cars past lap eight is a pretty poor showing and doesn’t build on the accomplishment of a first finish in Malaysia, and constantly talking up an upgrade that may or may not fix underlying reliability issues doesn’ty help either.

Lotus may not have been the fastest on Saturday, but they definitely have the legs on everyone else with race pace and reliability. It was encouraging to see Heikki Kovalainen running in the points scoring positions early on by staying on slicks, but every other car behind him blew right past him as soon as the inters came out. But, chalking up another finish for the team is good, and they are still ahead in the race for best new team.

Hispania Racing have that experienced reserve driver they were touting last week….who isn’t that experienced, to be honest. Former Super Aguri and Spyker driver Sakon Yamamoto has taken on a test and reserve role with the new team for the rest of the 2010 season. The deal will see Yamamoto taking part in Friday practice sessions at race weekends. Another double finish in as many races though, and Hispania are threatening Virgin for next best start-up team behind Lotus, all with a customer car built in a wind tunnel. Who would’ve thought it after Bahrain?

That’s for the China GP special. Join me next week for all things F1, in the mean time; I want to hear from you! Comments are more than welcome, whether they are positive or negative about anything spoken about here. And also don’t forget the forums, a place where anyone can post their opinion to other F1 fans. Get in touch and see you in seven days.

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