2012 F1 season off to a proper start

The 2012 Formula One season is off to a rousing start, and the lights haven’t even gone off at the start of the first race yet. If the first qualifying session of the season is any indicator of what we can expect for the entire season, F1 fans around the globe are going to have plenty to watch and talk about.


For the first time since the 2009 season, there isn’t a Red Bull in the first two rows. What that means for viewers is perhaps a dawning of a new era in F1, with new teams and a newfound competitiveness up front. Of course, it’s only the first race, and we haven’t even had the race at that, so it would be prudent to keep the enthusiasm a bit in-check – more bridled than unbridled.

The first row was swept by the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button, and deservedly so, if not for the drivability of the car than for the design of what has to be the best looking F1 car on the grid. Going in a different direction than every constructor save Marussa (nee Virgin), McLaren has shirked the platypus step nose of all the other builders to present the cleanest, most elegant car on the grid. That alone should be worth one point per race in the standings, just out of principle.

The biggest surprise, more so than the 5th and 6th placings of Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, was the 3rd place showing of Frenchman Roman Grosjean, returning to F1 and putting the Lotus (formerly Renault) in the rarified air of the front of the grid. He’s joined on the second row by Michael Shumacher, who has looked positively rejuvenated in the four on-track sessions thus far this season.

Biggest disappointment of the early season would have to be Ferrari, where Fernando Alonso spun early in Q2 and ended up 12 on the grid. Still, that effort was much better than Felipe Massa’s disappointing 16th, having barely escaped Q1 with a mad dash on soft compound tires. In a make-or-break season for Massa, the start of his campaign has exactly gone to script.

With seven constructors making out the top ten in qualifying, the first race of the season is stacking up to be one of the more competitive – and potentially surprising – early season races in years. Here’s hoping Sunday’s race keeps pace with Saturday’s qualifying.

Race along with Ray on Twitter @RayHartjen.

For the Love of Tires (or Tyres, as the case may be)

The Formula One season begins this week in Bahrain, the middle eastern tax haven "home" to a surprisingly large number of Formula One pilots.  They don't actually live there, like they often do in places like Monte Carlo.  But, plop down a few mil for a residence and tax haven, he we come.

Racing for luxury townhomes is one thing, racing on the track entirely different.  This season shapes up as the most anticipated in recent history.  The stories are too many to count:

1. Combacks - Schumy is back, albeit with Mercedes; Felipe Massa is back in the Ferrari
2. Driver transfers - World Champion Jensen Button (can't believe I just typed that!) has moved from Brawn to McLaren; Reubeniho is in the Williams; Rosberg is in the Mercedes; Fernando Alonso looks superb in Ferrari livery
3. World Champions - Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, and Button (4!) are in the field.  I could have probably added Felipe Massa's name to that list and not come up with too much of an argument due to his near miss two years ago. 
4. Constructors - Brawn is now Mercedes; BMW is now BMW Sauber Ferrari; Toyota has left, perhaps in the nick of time to deal with its burdened consumer brand; and Renault is sorta still Renault, sort of Lada
5. New constructors - Lotus, Virgin, and HRT.  No USF1 - ugh!  Of course, these teams will struggle.  But, keep the lookout for Lotus F1.  They have experience in management, engineers, crew, and maybe most important, drivers.  They'll have the quickest pace of the newcomers and will be the first to get points. 
6. New drivers a-plenty.  Have deep pockets?  You might be a F1 pilot next year!
7. New rules - the usual tweaks of the technical regulations, with one big one - no more mid-race refueling.

It's the ban on mid-race refueling that will play out over and over again throughout the season (in addition to the struggles of the newcomers).  The new fuel rules have a "trickle" affect.  First, cars have to accomodate the extra fuel - over 300 pounds or over 20% more again of the car's total weight.  That extra weight is going to play havoc on two areas of the car - the undertray (boring, but a potential source of disqualifications this year) and tires, or as the Brits so lovingly spell, t-y-r-e-s.  Those Brits are so cute.  Precious, indeed.

Tire management will be THE deciding factor in the races this year, compounded by the fact that teams must start the race on the tires they qualified on.  Up front, that will be the "super soft" tires, which, while fast, will be going off after just a few laps of race pace.  Early in the season, look for some strong results from mid-field qualifers on the harder compound tires.  They'll be able to go longer on their first tire stints.  Moreover, they'll be able to save their super soft tires for later in the race, when the tracks are rubbered in, and more importantly, their cars are hundreds of pounds lighter.

On Sundays, the races will be won by the swift, for sure.  But, the early season wager might be best played on the mid-field qualifer, where "swift" is better defined over the course of the entire race on Sunday as opposed to a single lap on Saturday.  For the first race, look for Adrian Sutil of Force India, sitting surprisingly racy on the tenth spot on the grid.

Of course, on the tenth spot of the grid, the entire race might be done by the first corner.  That's a story for Monday.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

The wizards of Formula 1 often look down - always look down - on other forms of open-wheel racing around the world, particularly in the United States. Even in the hey day of CART in the late-80's and early 90's, F1 claimed superiority despite a seemingly endless, snooze-inducing run of McLaren Honda romps.

One thing I always agreed with though was the use of local cautions during an accident. In F1, the clean-up of a shunt is unbelievably quick. It's rare to see the appearance of a safety car (pace car, in the states). The highest of high-tech lifts and cranes are utlized liberally, and a wrecked or stalled car is removed to safety in no time at all. Racing resumes - it usually is only slowed down for a corner or two.

Totally different scenario in the States. Whether CART, IRL, or whatever, the pace car pays a routine visit almost every race weekend. On road circuits, full-course cautions are de riguer, bunching the field. For many, it works - most Americans want wheel-to-wheel racing action, with lots of passes. In the culture of F1, the race on the track on Sunday is just one part of the total race - design engineering, mechanical engineering, qualifying, and racing.

What Americans have figured out though, is how to manage a wet track - we've seen futile F1 attempts several times this season, highlighted (or low-lighted, as may be the case) by this afternoons 90-minute delay in qualifying at Interlagos in Brazil.

Granted, today's storm was, in the parlance of my mother, a "frog strangler." But, F1 race stewards could learn a thing or two of managing a wet track to avoid it "getting away from you." For, once the track is "away," it's lost to the whims of mother nature.

Today saw the folly of the medical car - a bad-ass AMG Mercedes station wagon - taking "inspection laps" to determine if it was safe to resume qualifying. One car on a three-mile track is going to do nothing to disipate water. In the sponsorship crazy state of American road racing, the track would have been littered with "Pace Trucks" flushing the water as much as possible. Ever sat through a ran delay at Indy? Ribbons of trucks circle the track - at times it seems there's more traffic than on Georgetown Road gettng to the track in the first place. Depending on the venue, you'll see a jet-dryer or two.

NASCAR, the epitomy of racing low-tech, even has a great solution. As the track nears drying, they'll line up the cars and run them around at reduced speeds. Not only will the tires help dry by spraying water in the air, but the oven hot exhausts and engine bays do their part to.

A couple of solutions for F1 to ensure their shows go on:

1. Put the Saftey and Medical Car out together, along with every other saftey and track maintenance vehicle on site - the more ties spray, the more water is removed. Try to keep the track from receiving standing water in the first place - it requires almost constant use (and if anyone remembers the CART Portland race circa '95 or so can attest it works)


2. Consider running the field under controlled circumstances, under a full-course caution. An F1 tire can pump out (and up) almost 16 gallons/second at full speed. Even at reduced speeds, it's double-digits of gallons per second, per wheel. 20 cars, 4 wheels apiece - well, they can do the math. Sure, you'll get bitching from the team - it will ruin our fuel loads - but it will be the same for everyone.
   

The show goes on. But for F1 to maintain its collective superiority complex, its got to be the forerunner and leader all the way around. Fellas, do some to better drain your facilities.

As for the race on Sunday, will the dry set-up of Vettel and the McLarens make a difference? A little, but not enough to compensate for their starting positions. If Reubinho can bring it for the home crowd, we'll see the championship go down to Abu Dhabi.