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When I sit down to pen my reflections on a race I usually start with my overall impression and any particular observations that have hit me, but I thought about it and felt strangely devoid of inspiration, hence the lateness of this report. This is odd because Ferrari clearly have the best car on the grid and have won two races out of three, and the last GP was intriguing with some proper racing going on. The trouble is something seems missing from the Scuderia and it is the very something which defines Ferrari - La Passione. Raikkonen cruised to an easy win in Australia, must have thought he'd got it made and went off to get a tattoo which makes David Beckham's look tasteful. I don't know if this sapped his strength but since then he has turned in two distinctly lack-lustre performances, trundling home third in both races. True, Ferrari said they had to turn the wick down in Malaysia as a precautionary measure after an engine water loss late in the race at Oz, but what happened in Bahrain? He later complained that "the car was not quite how I wanted it", but where was the fight? There was no evidence that he was pushing in either race - hardly the way to capture the hearts and minds of we tifosi. Surely it's a bit early in the season to be driving for the percentages, we want more effort. Then there's Massa. He got pole in Malaysia and again in Bahrain, subsequently staying out of trouble and winning the race, but I still believe that we are seeing a journeyman flattered by the best car. There have been a few examples of this over the years, with Damon Hill the most notable. Nigel Mansell would never have won the title had he not been in the right car at the right time - he did have the speed, it just took all of the Williams FW14's many computers to stop him breaking something! The current situation would be bad enough were it not for the fact that all of the passion, cleverness and fight is coming from the Grey Empire (we can't say the Dark Side any more). It was a sure bet that Alonso would be a great performer but no-one could have expected Lewis Hamilton's F1 career to start as it has, despite his stunning pace in winter testing. His superb start in Australia was repeated in Malaysia when he passed both Ferrari drivers on the opening lap, absorbed huge pressure from Massa, allowing Alonso, who had passed pole man Massa in turn 1, to build up a lead he never lost. Eventually it was the vastly more experienced Ferrari driver who made a mistake and went off. Compared to the McLaren drivers, Ferrari's are distinctly underachieving. I have little doubt that Alonso will emerge on top this year. This may seem like harsh criticism of the Ferrari piloti, but it follows naturally when you consider whom they are trying to replace. There's no way they would have got past him in Malaysia but if by some fluke they had, there's no way he wouldn't have got past Hamilton and there's absolutely no way he'd have given up and toured round because he was unhappy with the balance of the car. Kimi has said he should have scored 30 points, Michael WOULD have. The Ferrari drivers need to get their act together before the clearly buzzing McLaren team catch up and pass them. Elsewhere BMW look good and seem firmly established as third best team. Renault are stuggling, perhaps hurt more than the others because of the switch to Bridgestone tyres, they were very close to Michelin. However they must be missing Alonso like mad, Fisichella is another who just doesn't seem to be able to push, especially if the car is not 100%. Williams are looking racy and surely would be in front of engine supplier Toyota were it not for unreliability. Honda are still a total disaster, wonder if they could tempt Ron Tauranac out of retirement to sort the job out? There are reports (strenuously denied, therefore bound to be true) that they are talking to Ross Brawn. If I was team boss Nick Fry I'd be careful, there can only be one job there Ross would be interested in - his. As for the others, who rattled Coolthud's cage? It was a little early for his annual effort, contract time must be getting earlier... I'll leave the Pitpass website with the final word. "As he struggles with the RA107, Button's stock falls that little bit lower, race by race. Furthermore, as any member of the ITV crew will remind him, he is no longer Britain's great white hope, there is a new kid on the block." PS Did you see the 'bikes in Turkey!!!
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