4.8.11

Well the really good news is that Ferrari finally won their first GP of the season at Silverstone, their 216th world championship win 60 years after their first and at the same venue. José Froilan González taking the first win in a tipo 375 and Fernando Alonso the latest in a tipo 150° Italia.

I must admit I was a bit disgruntled when Ferrari named the latest tipo at first the F150 (to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification) and claimed it as the "essence of Italianity" or somesuch nonsense. This seemed to me to be a touch pompous and to diminish the colossal contribution non-Italians have made to Ferrari's success over the years. However pride comes before a fall and after the hilarious Ford pick-up saga, it soon became clear that 150 degrees wasn't enough. Technical Director Aldo Costa was moved out and has since left the company and for the fifth (?) time the Scuderia has turned to Anglo Saxons for its technical leadership, this time in the form of Pat Fry, who has vowed to encourage creativity of thought.

Whether this was responsible for the improvement in Ferrari form from Valencia to Silverstone, or further changes to the blown diffuser regs (making them less effective) is not clear. In Valencia qualifying maps, which burn more fuel off-throttle, were banned and for Silverstone it was announced that when the driver came off the throttle, the throttles had to close. I don't know about you, but despite intense scrutiny of the comics, I had not appreciated that the throttles remained open when the driver lifted off. How could this be? There was an article which blithely announced that of course this had been the case for years to stop the rear wheels locking up on lift-off or down shift. Power was cut by stopping the fuel and retarding the ignition, the brakes being enough to slow the car down. Apparently F1 drivers don't coast into corners.

All of a sudden off-thottle diffuser blowing became clear(er). When the driver lifted off the engine was still pumping air over the diffuser. With no fuel or ignition on, this is "cold blowing". Add a bit of fuel and a retarded spark and you get burning gases in the exhaust, this is "hot blowing". Both were to be banned at Silverstone. Then the rows started, not all engines were the same, closing the throttles would make them unreliable, they needed some positive crankcase pressure all the time, presumably the heads of the valves would get sucked off otherwise or something. Mercedes were to be allowed to keep the throttle open on four cylinders and Renault all theirs a certain percentage. No-one was happy. In the end the FIA gave up and said things could stay as per Valencia for the rest of the season.

We racing fans love a bit of high-tech. Even now, men in sheds are eyeing up bits of tube and the back end of their clubbie single-seaters and thumbing the edges of their hacksaw blades....

All this shows yet again how little we ordinary fans know about F1 or are told. The teams just don't tell the media anything. A former F3 team owner was a guest of an F1 team at the British GP and even he said "we have absolutely no idea of what really goes on".

The 2014 engine row seemed to have settled around 1.5 litre V6s revving to 15,000 rpm with ERS (Energy Recovery systems) KERS (as now) and exhaust heat recovery. It occurred to me that if F1 wanted to make a conspicuous eco-statement then maybe engines off, electric power only in the pits would do it. Recently the FIA announced this is precisely what they intend to do! The row erupted again with teams saying silent cars would be dangerous. Maybe they should be fitted with bleepers? You do wonder how effective an eco-statement it would be with cars screaming past the pits at the same time. How about every 10 laps or so all the cars have to do a lap on 'lectric only?

As an aside, I've had a pop at Ferrari but all this talk of noise leads me to the Silverstone Classic. There the sight and sound of the Ferraris in the Italian race reminded me yet again why we love the marque. Three 512M/S, a 412P, a 206 and others screaming around simply overwhelmed the hundreds of flatulent Jaguar E Types celebrating their 50th anniversary. The Ferraris were just so loud and so exotic in comparison, also the 458 Italia is simply awesome.

One final off-track thing, with the phone hacking controversy, News Corp seemed unlikely to be making a bid to buy F1 in the near future but then came the shock announcement (to UK viewers) that next season (until 2018) F1 will be shown on Sky Sports! A deal has been struck where all GPs, including practice and qualifying will be shown on the pay-only channel.

The BBC will show only 10 races live and highlights of those it does not. It seems that the BBC simply cannot stand the cost of F1, its biggest single expenditure, especially with the Olympics coming up next year. I am also sure that intellectual snobbery regarding the gross conspicuous consumption F1 represents played a part in it too. It's amusing to see the struggle on "welly telly" between the green agenda and country folks love of killing things. F1's strong association with non-democratic regimes, especially the sight of gin palace paddocks and empty stands can't have helped either.

There was some initial grumbling by the teams about the loss of free-to-air exposure for sponsors, but they and the motorsport hacks quickly got on message - that it was this or lose all free-to-view coverage; Bernie probably had a quiet word, and the rumoured extra £1m or so to each team will have done the rest. However I supect this is the beginning of the end for free-to-air coverage of F1 and maybe even F1 in its current extravagant manifestation. Maybe Max was right. Whatever, this is one F1 fan who won't be paying for his pleasure (no pun intended).

Meanwhile the British and German GPs were both entertaining races with Ferrari looking (technically) the Number 2 team. The only problem was that in Britain it was to Red Bull and in Germany McLaren. We do like Vettel but another good thing about both races was we were spared him doing that extremely irritating one finger up thing and also declaiming "Woo! That's what I'm talking about".

Race reports are based on information from Ferrari Media.

British GP - Silverstone - 10th July

At the halfway point of the season Fernando Alonso gave Scuderia Ferrari its very first win of the 2011 season, while Felipe Massa also drove an attacking race to pick up more valuable points with a fifth place finish. The Spaniard was joined on the podium by the two Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel who finished second and Mark Webber third.

Just before the start, a short shower ensured that all 24 cars started the race on intermediate rain tyres. As the lights went out, Vettel immediately passed his Red Bull team-mate Webber to take the lead, with Fernando attacking the Australian but staying in third. Felipe lost out to Button, but retook the McLaren on lap 2 to regain his grid position (fourth). Amazingly, half the circuit was dry and half wet!

Vettel maintained the lead after the first round of stops. Felipe now found himself under attack from the other McLaren, that of Button, who actually got past the Ferrari at Vale corner. The McLarens were evidently more comfortable on slicks in the damp as lap 15 saw Hamilton demote Fernando to fourth.

With the whole field on slicks, the order at the front, was Vettel, 1.2 ahead of Webber, who had a huge 6.1 lead over Hamilton, the Englishman leading fourth placed Alonso by 0.8. Button was almost four seconds down on the Spaniard and had Felipe 3.6 behind him. On lap 24, Fernando was getting on terms with Hamilton again, pulling alongside and eventually going past to get back to third place. The Spaniard set a race fastest lap, as Hamilton pitted for a second time.

With 20 laps of the 52 remaining, Fernando had a 6.8 second lead over Hamilton, with Vettel half a second back in third. Webber was fourth, followed by Button who was closing up on the lead four, with Felipe trailing the McLaren by 3.3 seconds. Vettel made his third stop on lap 36 and when Hamilton came in one lap later the German was back ahead of the Englishman. Webber came in on lap 38 and Fernando one lap later, followed by Button, who parked his McLaren after exiting the pit lane, as his right front wheel nut had not been replaced. This meant that, on lap 40, with all the leaders except Felipe having made three pit stops, the order was, Fernando leading by 10.3 seconds from Vettel, with Hamilton third and Felipe fourth ahead of Webber. The Brazilian Ferrari man made his third stop on lap 41, rejoining in fifth spot. Lap 45 and there was a change in the podium order as Webber managed to take third off Hamilton, who had been told to save fuel.

As has so often been the case this year, the closing laps, as tyres reached the end of their life, got very exciting. Webber was all over the back of second placed Vettel until team instructions from the pit wall [which he initially ignored] told him to maintain station, but the biggest excitement came at the very last corner, as Felipe made one last desperate attempt to take fourth place off Hamilton, even going off the track in his efforts but having to settle for fifth at the flag. Hamilton had been told he had to save fuel so Felipe had been closing and closing, even pulling alongside the McLaren. This meant Hamilton hung onto fourth and Felipe was classified fifth ahead of Nico Rosberg. By this stage, Fernando was home in front, comfortably ahead of Vettel and Webber.

Click here for FIA lap chart.

German GP - Nurburgring - 24th July

Scuderia Ferrari took its fifth podium of the season, all of them courtesy of Fernando Alonso, after the Spaniard finished second in the German Grand Prix. Felipe Massa added to the team’s impressive points haul by bringing the other 150º Italia home in fifth place, having been a protagonist in some of the most exciting battles in what was an action packed afternoon. Joining Fernando on the podium was winner Lewis Hamilton for McLaren and third placed Mark Webber for Red Bull Racing.

While there had been plenty of light rain in the morning, the track was actually completely dry as the 24 cars formed up on the grid. However, just a few seconds later, it began to rain very slightly, although not enough for any other tyre choice but slicks. When the lights went out, Lewis got the jump on pole man Webber, as Fernando, from fourth on the grid, got the better of Vettel but then had to fight him off for a few corners, while Rosberg managed to pass Felipe, relegating the Brazilian to sixth. On lap 2 Fernando was very close to Webber but ran wide and Vettel got past again. One lap later and the Spaniard was sitting on the German’s tail and Felipe was right behind Rosberg’s gearbox.

At the start of lap 8 Fernando again got past Vettel. On lap 10, the Rosberg-Massa duo had closed right up to Vettel who lost time with a spin when he appeared to lose grip on a white line. Lap 11 and Heidfeld retired after crashing into Buemi as they battled for 15th spot and finally, going down the main straight to start lap 12, Felipe managed to muscle his way past Rosberg, the two of them touching wheels at Turn 1. By now, Webber had closed up to the race leader and actually got past the McLaren briefly as the two men raced wheel to wheel, but the Englishman managed to keep the lead.

Lap 16 and Hamilton and Fernando pitted together, while Felipe had got ahead of Webber going into Turn 1 as Vettel dived for the pits so that the Brazilian was leading on lap 17 when he headed for pit lane for his own tyre change. The run of pit stops at the front meant that Webber was now leading Hamilton by 0.6s, with Fernando just 0.3 behind this duo and Felipe was eighth ahead of Hamilton, although the cars in between them and the lead trio had yet to pit. Felipe and Vettel then dispensed with Kobayashi’s Sauber to move up to seventh and eighth, but found themselves stuck behind Petrov’s Renault. Felipe passed the Russian on lap 22 and Vettel took a bit longer to manage the same move. Sutil pitted from fourth on this lap which promoted Felipe to fifth behind Button.

Webber was the first of the lead trio to make a second tyre change on lap 30, which meant Hamilton now led from Fernando, although Webber came out of pit lane in third, ahead of Felipe. One lap later and it was the McLaren man’s turn to pit and this time he managed to come out wheel to wheel with Webber, just forcing the Red Bull wide to go second behind Fernando. It was exciting stuff as the Ferrari emerged from pit lane to slot in ahead of leader Hamilton, but with the momentum of running on track, the McLaren retook the lead, leaving the Spaniard just ahead of third placed Webber. Button seemed to have been involved in plenty of action and he finally made it into the top six by getting past Rosberg on lap 35, to sit behind Vettel who was 2.4 seconds off Felipe. But the Englishman’s race ended one lap later with an hydraulic problem.

Vettel made his second trip down pit lane on lap 40 and Felipe followed him next time round and immediately found the German on his tail, pushing hard on tyres that were more up to temperature. But Felipe fought him off and gradually pulled out a small gap once again, especially as the German overshot and missed the chicane and had to lift off. But the battle intensified and a couple of laps later it was Felipe’s turn to run slightly wide, allowing the Red Bull to close up. On lap 47, after the gap had grown slightly, Vettel set a race fastest lap so the gap came down again this time to 0.9. On lap 50, with just ten laps remaining the gap was only half a second, with Felipe locking up his front wheels under braking in his efforts to stay in fourth place.

Lap 51 and Fernando inherited the lead as Hamilton made a third stop for fresh rubber, and as soon as the Englishman had left pit lane, the Ferrari mechanics took up position in pit lane to do the same for Fernando, but the Spaniard drove by and the tyres went back in their blankets. He now had a 4.0 lead over Webber, with Hamilton back in third, but a poor second sector on that lap, meant the Spaniard would really have to produce a quick lap if he wanted to pit and maintain the lead. Would it be enough, as he came in on lap 53? Sadly the answer was no, as he emerged from pit lane just behind Hamilton. 23 seconds further back, Felipe’s mirrors were full of Vettel’s Red Bull. Webber, who only changed tyres twice was now leading, but he had to make a third stop on lap 56, which put Hamilton and Fernando back to first and second. The top three would remain in this order to the flag, but the fight over fourth place kept the excitement going right to the flag. On the very last lap, Felipe and Vettel both had to pit, because so far they had only run the Option tyre and the rules state a driver must use both Option and Prime in a race. Unfortunately, the Red Bull crew was fractionally quicker getting their man away, so in the end Felipe had to settle for fifth place. It had been a fantastic race, with action throughout the field and not a bad result for the Scuderia, though Massa's last stop was a disappointment.