Race Report: Bahrain - Vettel Wins Aggressive Race In The Desert

The Bahrain Grand Prix started off as an incredibly feisty affair, with pole sitter Nico Rosberg facing a tough task to hold off some incredibly quick race pace competition, Vettel ultimately being one of few to have clean air, streaking off into the distance whilst it was battles galore throughout the rest of the top field.

His Second Win In Four Races - Now 10 Points Clear Of Raikkonen

Off the line Alonso took Vettel round the outside into T1, before Vettel impressively undertook Fernando back into T5 in an unexpected passing place. The first few laps were unbelievably aggressive, with the front few within a second or two of each other, slipstreaming down the many straights like crazy. Ultimately after haunting Rosberg, Vettel passed Rosberg on lap 3, followed by Alonso. 

The Force India's had mixed fortunes at the start, with di Resta jumping from 5th to 4th, whilst Sutil tangled with Massa, ultimately having to pit immediately ruining his good qualifying from 6th. di Resta then passed the struggling Rosberg into 3rd, and then disappointingly from a race point of view, Alonso's DRS flap became stuck, prompting a pitstop - di Resta into 2nd.

The wing was fixed, tyres changed and the damage was minimal, but unfortunately for the prancing horse, the rear wing became stuck again and immediately had to pit again, ruining his race. 1st stop was damage limitation, but the 2nd stop yet again questions the logic on the Ferrari pit wall, and should have instructed Fernando to not use it again first time round. He recovered to get what points he can to 8th place.

Fernando's Stalled DRS Flap Stuck Open

It soon emerged on lap 12 that di Resta and Raikkonen's Lotus would be 2 stopping, Raikkonen ultimately having the pace to overtake the Force India. It would be Grosjean from 11th on the grid though on a 3 stop race that would prove the Lotus race pace on both strategies, and would finish behind his teammate in 3rd place as he steadily worked his way through the field, overtaking Paul on lap 52 of 57, snatching away what looked like Paul's first podium place, ultimately finishing 4th. 


After Fernando's mechanical wing failure Ferrari's bad after went from bad to worse when on lap 18 Massa added to his front wing woes had a right rear puncture. Thankfully for Pirelli, something had cut and given him the puncture, rather than a overheating tyre failure as originally feared. Unbelievably any chance of points blew away as another tyre suffered the same fate later in the race, finishing 15th. 

Rosberg's expectations quickly became lower and lower, on lap 20 being taken by Button's McLaren which was in better form than talked up, quickly followed by many others. His teammate Hamilton didn't have a much better afternoon starting from 9th as he struggled on 2 sets of mediums, but on the hard tyre battled well, fighting with Webber over 5th in the last few laps, ultimately coming out on top into T1 on the last lap. Rosberg after fighting so much in the race had to pit a 4th time, disappointingly only finishing 9th. Mercedes be impressing in qualifying but there race pace is slipping behind the top teams, with McLaren unexpectedly having a better car on the day.

The Improved McLaren's Put On A Great Show

McLaren on the other hand looked much improved despite not expecting much, Sergio Perez having a brilliant afternoon from 12th on the grid to finish 6th, overtaking Webber on the last lap. Button was ahead for much, but Perez challenged Jenson without fear and showed the reason why he was chosen to replace Hamilton. Perez looking like a McLaren driver for the first time - perhaps Martin Whitmarsh's talk has helped! Button finished 10th, after like Rosberg having to pit for a 4th time.

In the mid and lower field it was quite uneventful in comparison to all the battles constantly going on in the top 10, but Maldonado put in a much improved performance, finishing just outside the points in 11th for Williams, whilst Charles Pic did a great race in the Caterham, finishing ahead of not just both Marussia's, but also Gutierrez in the Sauber to finish 17th.

Overall, it's a shame Alonso couldn't take the battle to Vettel, but Grosjean, di Resta and Perez were superb and all showing their true potentials collectively, whilst the battles in the top 10 made sure there wasn't enough time to make a cup of tea and not miss anything. Bahrain certainly wasn't Bohrain this year.

Vettel now leads the championship by 10 points from Raikkonen, whilst Alonso despite his Chinese win drops back to 27 points behind, and would really love to win his home Grand Prix in Spain in 3 weeks now to close the gap.

Nick, F1 Hub




F1 Hub Overtake of the Race
Button on Perez - Lap 35
Perez overtook Jenson into turn 1 off the DRS and the move looked extremely clean. Despite Sergio running out wide to stop Button coming back, Jenson exited well and squeezed up the inside into turn 2, something that not many people could do, including Webber, Alonso and other big names. Top commitment. Vettel's overtake on Alonso on lap 5 into turn 1 deserves a quick mention too, using his leftover KERS and undercutting out of turn 4, getting the line into turn 5. 



F1 Hub Driver of the Race
Grosjean had a super race going from 11th to 3rd, but for me it's extremely close between  di Resta and Perez showed grit and determination to both challenge his teammate on track, make one less stop and even taking Webber on the last lap to finish 6th, less than a second behind Hamilton. Some rightfully will argue he was too aggressive, but still a great effort and will get his first F1 Hub Teammate Battle Tracker point against Button this weekend! Check back for that article in a few days.

Paul di Resta though didn't put a foot wrong, and was desperately unlucky not to have the tyres left to get his first podium. Showing his class. 



Full Race Result
1) Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull-Renault]
2) Kimi Raikkonen [Lotus-Renault]
3) Romain Grosjean [Lotus-Renault]
4) Paul di Resta [Force India-Mercedes] 
5) Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes]
6) Sergio Perez [McLaren-Mercedes]
7) Mark Webber [Red Bull-Renault]
8) Fernando Alonso [Ferrari]
9) Nico Rosberg [Mercedes]
10) Jenson Button [McLaren Mercedes] 
11) Pastor Maldonado [Williams Renault] 
12) Nico Hulkenberg [Sauber-Ferrari]
13) Adrian Sutil [Force India-Mercedes] 
14) Valtteri Bottas [Williams-Renault]
15) Felipe Massa [Ferrari]
16) Daniel Ricciardo [Toro Rosso-Ferrari]
17) Charles Pic [Caterham-Renault]
18) Esteban Gutierrez [Sauber-Ferrari]
19) Jules Bianchi [Marussia-Cosworth]
20) Max Chilton [Marussia-Cosworth]
21) Giedo van der Garde [Caterham-Renault]

Did Not Finish
Jean-Eric Vergne [Toro Rosso-Ferrari] Lap 16

F1Hub Teammate Battle Tracker: China

The teammate battles varied at Round 3 in Shanghai, for the 10th Chinese Grand Prix, with Ricciardo pulling one back, Gutierrez making it even easier for Hulkenberg and the two Force India's having a bit of paint licking...

Red Bull
Race: Vettel
Overall: Vettel 2 vs Webber 1
A disastrous weekend for Webber throughout, and was doing a great recovery until he spun Vergne around, who knows where he could of come as the Shanghai circuit is one of his best despite the Red Bull not favoring it. Nevertheless, Vettel did a good job in the race and may have pipped Hamilton to the podium if he wasn't a bit over excited in turn 11/12 on the last lap. Vettel takes the lead.


Ferrari
Race: Alonso
Season: Alonso 2 vs Massa 1
After the two scarlet red cars overtook Hamilton early on, many expected them to run away to a one-two finish, which Alonso did, but Massa's late tyre change from the soft's compromised him and didn't have the pace anymore, instead finishing behind Button in 6th. Alonso did the maximum to make up his Malaysian mistake.


McLaren
Race: Button
Season: Button 3 vs Perez 0
Perez has been told by McLaren management to toughen up, after finishing 11th to Button's impressive 5th. Jenson is outclassing Sergio, it just seems Perez has lost his confidence moving up into the big ranks but being dogged with their worst car since 2009. Lets hope he gets a few points in the first half of the season to prove himself.


Lotus
Race: Raikkonen
Season: Raikkonen 2 vs Grosjean 1
Raikkonen back on form showing his Australian form, and lies 2nd behind Vettel in the championship. After a poor start Raikkonen survived the first lap, whilst Grosjean had an adequate race, not really been seen on the screens too much. Romain scored his first podium in Bahrain last year, would be good to see some of his top form again.


Mercedes
Race: Hamilton
Season: Rosberg 1 vs Hamilton 2
Even without the retirement, Hamilton gained a superb pole position before Lewis clung onto 3rd in a slower race car, whilst I suspect Rosberg may have finished 5th, 6th or 7th. Mercedes are definitely chucking themselves in the mix, they just need to sort out mechnical issues before it bites them too regularly, and Lewis has 2012 dejavu!

Sauber
Race: Hulkenberg
Season: Hulkenberg 3 vs Gutierrez 0
Poor from Gutierrez this weekend, rookie or not, the class between these two at the moment is perhaps one of the most obvious of the teammate battles. I hope the young Mexican proves us wrong for the sport's sake, but he hasn't been noticed like Perez in 2011. Not Sauber's strongest weekend but once again Hulkenberg led a race - need to sort out quicker pit stops though!


Force India
Race: di Resta
Season: di Resta 2 vs Sutil 1
Adrian may be sitting on the naughty step until Bahrain, after everybody but himself saw him give Paul no room coming out of the hairpin, it made Paul lose several places from 10th to 14th. A great comeback to 8th shows Force India's pace this year, if they stop having silly makes they can secure 6th and challenge for 5th. Paul will feel a bit of justice that it was Adrian who had Gutierrez smash into the back of though!


Williams
Race: Bottas
Season: Maldonado 0 vs Bottas 3
Williams still finished over 20 seconds behind 12th place Vergne's Toro Rosso, but have improved. Nevertheless, Bottas still finished ahead of Maldonado, thus the Finn gets the point. Who would have predicted 3-0 to Bottas?


Toro Rosso
Race: Ricciardo
Season: Vergne 2 vs Ricciardo 1
Ricciardo one of the stars of the weekend, outclassing Vergne and gaining him a big teammate battle point. He now has over half of the points from the whole 2012 season, and both his qualifying in 7th and ability to stay there despite front wing damage should be heavily noted. Sure Vergne got spun by Webber, but I doubt he still would have scored points. Ricciardo was 6th in qualifying in Bahrain last year, can he start a consistent streak?


Caterham
Race: Pic
Season: Pic 3 vs van der Garde 0
Pic easily overhauled the Dutchman again, who finished behind Chilton. van der Garde may be wondering why it took him this long to get into F1, but his start has been tougher than tough.


Marussia
Race: Bianchi
Season: Bianchi 3 vs Chilton 0
Chilton performed much better again, but is still far, far behind Bianchi and needs to at least finish ahead of Pic if he is going to have a strong season and be more noticed like Jules is currently.


Nick, F1 Hub


Let us know what you think of the teammate battles!
Bring on the Bahrain Grand Prix in a few days!

Best Race For Money On The F1 Calender?

We all love the British Grand Prix, British or not, one of the fastest tracks on the calender has been on the calender since 1950 and has some spectacular sequences of corners that newer circuits are now emulating. However it comes at a price, as out of the cheapest race tickets, Britain is the 3rd highest out of 19, behind Brazil and not surprisingly Abu Dhabi.

Silverstone

The first two races on the calender we have been to are extremely cheap really, Australia's cheapest ticket only £66 and Malaysia amazingly on £13! Suppose that's what you get for non-grandstand in a weekend almost guaranteed to have rain! In comparison, the cheapest race day ticket is £145 for general admission. 

To further hit blows at this price, you could go to the Champions League final for £60, MotoGP for £70 and the final day at The Open for £65 in the UK. Even the men's Wimbledon final is cheaper at £130, and the final day at the first Ashes cricket test is just £20.

It sounds and looks like the top three charging countries are robbing us then right when you look at these prices and the cheapest prices of the other races on the calender...? Plus you can go to Monaco overlooking a large part of the circuit on the hill for £30 on race-day, crazy right...?! 

Good Value Tickets Have Been Put In Bold
Statistics Aren't Everything, Make Of Them What You Will!
Monaco The Biggest Contrast Ranging From 3rd to 17th

...Well, to an extent, but when you then look at the prices for most expensive race tickets and most expensive 3-day tickets, Britain is extremely competitively priced, being in the middle of the pack in being 5th best price for the most expensive 3-day ticket, which is great! 

To make you feel slightly better too, when you compare the fact the British Grand Prix is only once a year, and you can see one of 38 league football matches most weekends locally for as much as £150 for the best seats. Obviously the race being a one off event is much more remember-able.

There is no government support either for the British Grand Prix unlike some, purely funding by the British Racing Drivers Club, so when you take this in mind, having to control the largest crowds, dealing with the rubbish traffic system, having Bernie Ecclestone on your back to develop the venue on and off the track including a new pit building and a whole third of the track - Silverstone offers an experience that is worked hard for and the majority of fans appreciate the value. 

The New 'Wing' Pit Building (top) Is Quite An Improvement To The Old Pit Building (bottom)
£27 Million Well Spent, A Fraction Of The Money Put Into Some Pit Buildings Worldwide

Think of Silverstone circuit like the Williams team, one of the few privateer companies that have been keeping afloat for years without manufacturer backing like Ferrari or Mercedes. 

The British GP is a world-class event in Formula 1, sport and all-round terms. The money is decent going for a 3-day ticket, with the cheapest 3-day ticket and cheapest 3-day covered grandstand ticket from just £180 on early bird at Copse corner. Even the most expensive tickets are well priced when you look at all others. 

Don't be fooled by the cheapest race day ticket being the 3rd most expensive, it's really not the whole picture! 

Join us in China for the Grand Prix this weekend, we will be bringing you our race weekend:

• Race Report: China
• Teammate Battle Tracker: China
• 10 Things We Learnt From: China

Twitter: https://twitter.com/F1HubTweety

Nick, F1 Hub

10 Things We Learnt From: Malaysia

McLaren Are Quick Turners
Whilst the gap to the top runners is still significant, McLaren in the space of a week have done a fab job to cut the gap down, with Jenson Button performing well and would have scored a 5th place most likely, and Perez scored his first McLaren points. A long way to go, and their early season form will have cost them, but who knows where they'll be at the end. Good on them for the progress, hope it keeps going. 


Alonso Isn't Bulletproof
The flawless Alonso of 2012 started off with an immaculate 2nd place in Australia, and no doubt would have been on the podium again if it weren't for the touch with Vettel in turn 2. Fernando has slightly blamed Sebastian for being slow through the corner, but regardless, he should have come into the pits at the end of lap 1 and changed to dry tyres regardless based on the weather forecast of no more rain and given himself a chance.


Management Isn't Everything
Red Bull have been supreme for the last three seasons, but management and driver relationships have perhaps never been so strained. Just 2 races in to the 19 race season, massive headlines have been made. Horner made the call to Sebastian, but was bluntly ignored. He's said 'sorry', but Button has pointed out it may hinder Vettel in the long run in terms of help from Webber and Sebastian's own performances as a result of the negative press he's had. Only time will tell.


Webber CAN Make Quick Starts
Last season Webber made some awful starts, and his technical glitch in Australia was cruel luck, but he impressively made a quick start instead of the Ferrari's this time, going into turn 2 he was 3rd and after lap 1 was 2nd. After his race winning pace before the controversy with Vettel, lets hope he can take the fight to Vettel and make it interesting with the other top drivers.


Force India Look Like Top Indie Team
Force India finished 6th in 2011 but dropped back to 7th in 2012. They're only podium came in Belgium 2009, whilst Sauber won 4 podiums last year and Williams won a race. Whilst their pitstops ultimately cost the team the whole race, they were in fine form particularly di Resta who was slicing through the field. After 2 races they look much quicker than their midfield competition, and I expect di Resta to meet Sauber's and ex-teammate Hulkenberg on track regularly!


Webber Isn't Shy With Words
Mark is very professional, but says it how it is at the same time. After referring to their code instructions before the podium, in the interview Mr Brundle gave he was extremely direct about the 'protection' that Red Bull give Seb, implying that he'll get away with it and other blue murder anytime. Expect to hear more honesty from the man who is of course 'not bad for a number 2 driver'.


Mercedes Aren't All Dandy Either
Beyond the Red Bull controversy, Rosberg was asked to hold station behind Hamilton by Ross Brawn, and had it not been for Red Bull, they'd be grabbing all the headlines. Nevertheless, I hope Lewis' and Nico's relationship hasn't been dented by this, as they have a car and team to challenge in many races this year. 1-1 in the F1Hub Teammate Battle Tracker - game on!


McLaren Still Have Fast But Dodgy Pitstops
Whilst Ferrari were both the quickest and most consistent in Malaysia for pitstops, McLaren were up to old tricks again, quick but something went wrong. This time Button almost lost his front right which wasn't secured properly, and was wheeled back to his pitbox, going from 5th to 1 lap behind. I think Homer Simpson refers to that as 'doh'! Quick stops are great but, for the sake of a few tenths.. consistency chaps.


Most Controversial Team Orders Since Ferrari 2002 & 2010
Ferrari have always taken the hit for team orders, but Red Bull have now taken over the reigns. In Austria 2002, Barrichello moved over for Schumacher, whilst Massa infamously moved over for Alonso in Germany 2010. Now that team orders are legal again, it still doesn't stop fans not appreciated their actions, so early in the season at least.


Hamilton Still Loves McLaren Deep Down
Lewis paid a visit home to McLaren's pitbox, rather than to his new Mercedes pad in Malaysia. He of course blamed it on habit, but perhaps was a bit more than that! Maybe a good thing he got waved through after Jenson's pitstop though ey.



Come back for our race report, teammate battle tracker and 10 things we learnt from articles, which will be posted after every race weekend!

For now, like our facebook and follow us on twitter, or comment on the blog below to join in the discussion! 

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Nick, F1 Hub

F1Hub Teammate Battle Tracker: Malaysia

The teammate battles spiced up to say the least, on Sunday at the Sepang circuit, for the 15th Malaysian Grand Prix, with Red Bull and Mercedes having a mighty teammate tussle...



Red Bull
Race: Webber
Overall: Vettel 1 vs Webber 1
Obviously a controversial battle, both on track and in terms of awarding the battle point. Vettel gained pole, whilst Webber moved from 5th to 2nd after the first lap. Arguably Webber had the pace to beat Vettel overall, and would have won if not for Sebastian defying team orders during 'tyre-wear saving' to close in and pass. Nevertheless, whilst it was close, the point goes to Webber as a result of this who probably deserved the win.


Ferrari
Race: Massa
Season: Alonso 1 vs Massa 1
An off weekend for the Spanish hero Alonso, whilst he qualified 3rd, Massa qualified 2nd and despite not having the pace he did in Melbourne, at least he didn't have an uncharacteristic collision like Fernando did with Vettel's Red Bull, ultimately leading to his retirement at the start of lap 2. 1 all!


McLaren
Race: Button
Season: Button 2 vs Perez 0
McLaren looked much improved this weekend, especially in the dry. Perez still isn't up to the pace of Jenson both in qualifying and in the race, but it is still early days in his career in a top team. Button looked great and proved his quality, whilst he couldn't hold back Rosberg's Mercedes, he gave him a good defensive battle, and had the pace to easily secure 5th if it weren't for his pit stop wheel woes. Well done to Perez for scoring his first McLaren points nevertheless, putting in a decent and consistent drive.


Lotus
Race: Grosjean
Season: Raikkonen 1 vs Grosjean 1
After his Australian victory, Kimi sat on the naughty step for blocking Rosberg in Q3, taking a 3 place grid penalty to start 10th. This hindered him greatly, after a bad start battled with Nico Hulkenberg for the large majority of the race, leaving it too late to catch Grosjean. Romain looked much improved after a poor opening race, putting in fastest laps towards the start of the race.


Mercedes
Race: Rosberg
Season: Rosberg 1 vs Hamilton 1
A great result for the Mercedes team, and if not for Hamilton's fuel saving could have finished much closer to the Bull's. Hamilton out-qualified Rosberg despite Nico performing better in Q1 and Q2, but in the race Nico deserved the podium finished, only staying behind Lewis due to team orders. He had better race pace which Lewis admitted, and said he felt Nico should be where he was. A nice touch, but surely Mercedes could have let Nico go through on the pit straight. Game on here.

Sauber
Race: Hulkenberg
Season: Hulkenberg 2 vs Gutierrez 0
Hulkenberg's first race of the year held a scrap with Raikkonen, ultimately losing but did a great job to do so for so long, and get 4 points for Sauber. Truly outpacing Gutierrez, who finished over a lap behind, and as of yet doesn't seem as impressive as Perez on his debut.


Force India
Race: di Resta
Season: di Resta 1 vs Sutil 1
A disappointing race for the team, pit stop problems with their wheel guns hindering what had promised to be another similar good result to the last race in Melbourne. di Resta was unlucky in qualifying after being called back in by his team, but was one of the fastest cars on the track until his retirement, and may have ended up fighting between 5th and 8th. Paul purely outpaced Adrian, and needs many more performances like this this year.


Williams
Race: Bottas
Season: Maldonado 0 vs Bottas 2
Another poor performance by Pastor M, going off the track once damaging his front wing, before spinning out for good just like in Australia. Bottas after a poor start ended up in 11th, just behind Vergne's Toro Rosso for the last point. A notable performance and deservedly goes 2-0 in the battle.


Toro Rosso
Race: Vergne
Season: Vergne 2 vs Ricciardo 0
As mentioned Vergne scored the team's first point of the season, whilst Ricciardo joined many on their lap to the grid by going off the track before the race even started, Daniel damaging his diffuser. Vergne still seems to be out-pacing the Aussie in race pace. 2-0 to the Frenchman.


Caterham
Race: Pic
Season: Pic 2 vs van der Garde 0
Pic again showing much more pace than his Dutch teammate, nevertheless both finished ahead of Chilton's Marussia.


Marussia
Race: Bianchi
Season: Bianchi 2 vs Chilton 0
Bianchi finished in 13th, which is a help towards securing 10th in the constructors, whilst Chilton finished disappointingly behind the Caterham's, not as good a performance as in Australia. Jules Bianchi is raising eyebrows, as he qualified just 0.2 seconds off a place in Q2 qualifying as well. At this rate is going to be in a midfield team next year comfortably.


Nick, F1 Hub


Let us know what you think of the teammate battles!
Bring on the Chinese Grand Prix in three weeks!

Race Report: Malaysia - Controversial Red Bull & Mercedes Battles Dominate

The Sepang circuit threw up another gripping Grand Prix, and despite the race starting on intermediates, the track dried up quickly and was ultimately dominated by Red Bull and Mercedes, both in terms of pace, inter-team battles and team management controversy. In the end, it was Vettel who won his third Malaysian Grand Prix after success in 2010 and 2011, in dramatic fashion.

Alonso Out Of Control Into Turn 1 On Lap 2

The race had high expectations for the fast-starting Ferrari's starting from 2nd and 3rd, but Alonso uncharacteristically knocked his front wing into the back of Webber who overtook them both in the first corners. Half hanging off, everyone was amazed he didn't come into the pits immediately, and as he came down the pit-straight, it came off lodging underneath the car, leaving Fernando with no steering careering off into the gravel. 

Lap 1 was reasonably uneventful besides the events of Alonso, and after Webber's much better start for once, he jumped teammate Vettel in the pit stops and the controversy began. The two Red Bull's along with the Mercedes who had jumped Massa at the start broke away from the pack. 

At one of Hamilton's pit stops, he comically drove into his old McLaren pit box before realising. Both Mercedes nevertheless chased down the Red Bull's, within a couple of seconds in the middle of the race, before Hamilton had to significantly begin to save fuel.

Mercedes Had A Super Result & Have Proved Their Genuine Competitiveness

In the latter stages of the race, both pairs of teammates came into combat and had the making of Turkey 2010 with Red Bull and McLaren. Both were told to conserve their last set of tyres, but Vettel ignored and whilst Webber engine was turned down, attacked Mark for a couple of laps, almost coming together into the pit wall at one point, before Mark eventually almost let Sebastian through after turn 4, maturer heads prevailing after constant radio chatter from team management calling the scrap 'silly'.

Similarly, whilst Hamilton saved fuel, Rosberg demanded permission to overtake Lewis and hunt down the Red Bull's, but was denied and despite having better race pace the whole race, was asked to hold station for over 10 laps, Lewis later admitting on the podium it should be Rosberg on the podium.

The Red Bull's Fought Hard, Here Against The Pit Wall, Before Webber Let Vettel Continue

Behind the top two teams, Button showed McLaren have made massive strides in the space of a week, and would have finished 5th most likely if not for a duff McLaren pit stop with the right front not going on properly. A shame and a waste of 10 points, as he dropped 1 lap behind before retiring. Teammate Perez however, scored his first McLaren points, finishing in 9th place.

Force India also had wasted opportunities, as both cars in particular di Resta looked mighty quick, but were hindered with their wheel guns not changing the wheels properly, ultimately having to retire both cars on safety grounds. Paul could definitely have challenging for a strong 6th place most likely. 

Massa after a poor first lap, dropped from 2nd to 7th, before recovering to 5th. Grosjean finished 6th outperformed his teammate Raikkonen who scrapped with Hulkenberg for the majority of the race, eventually getting the upper hand to finish 7th and 8th respectively. The Finn after winning last weekend didn't have the pace to cleanly overtake the German, and cost him dearly and is now 9 points behind Vettel in the championship after round 2.

Jean-Eric Vergne scored Toro Rosso's first point of the year in 10th behind Perez despite being released into Pic's Caterham in the pitlane and immediately having a front wing replacement, just ahead of Bottas who again out-performed more experienced Maldonado who again spun off the circuit. Gutierrez finished 13th, whilst Bianchi once again impressed as best small team driver, but Chilton wasn't as successful, finishing behind both Caterham's.

Dismal Expressions On The Podium, But Webber Was The F1 Hub  Driver Of  The Race (see below)

The second race has confirmed the season has well and truly burst into life, and now with 3 weeks until China, has many headlines to be written particularly about Red Bull and Vettel. Let us know what your opinion is of the team orders, on-track battles and overall situation.

Please check back for our F1Hub Teammate Battle Tracker and 10 Things We Learnt From Malaysia articles which will be up in the next couple of days.

Nick, F1 Hub




F1 Hub Overtake of the Race
Nico Rosberg on Jenson Button - Lap 3
Button impressively got up to 5th after the first few corners, moving to 4th after Alonso retired. Rosberg stayed on his tail, and into turns 1-5 had a great battle. Jenson defended well in his improved McLaren but when Jenson defending into turn 4, Nico got a better drive out of the corner and swooped round Jenson into turn 5 with a better turn in angle. Great little scrap at the start of the race, allowing Nico to chase after the Red Bull's and Hamilton.


F1 Hub Driver of the Race
A controversial race all-round, and had di Resta for Force India and Button for McLaren have kept running, one of them would have deserved driver of the day. di Resta's pace was outstanding, vastly out pacing Sutil, whilst Button was streams ahead of Perez and would have helped turned McLaren's fortunes around. 

Nevertheless, Webber gets my vote for the day, as he had the pace to beat his champion teammate, but thanks to team orders and his engine being turned down, Vettel attacked, and Webber eventually softly let him through after aggressive battling. His pace deserved recognition, as well as his maturity in the situation. Kudos to Rosberg for a much similar situation too.



Full Race Result
1) Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull-Renault]
2) Mark Webber [Red Bull-Renault]
3) Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes]
4) Nico Rosberg [Mercedes]
5) Felipe Massa [Ferrari]
6) Romain Grosjean [Lotus-Renault]
7) Kimi Raikkonen [Lotus-Renault]
8) Nico Hulkenberg [Sauber-Ferrari]
9) Sergio Perez [McLaren-Mercedes]
10) Jean-Eric Vergne [Toro Rosso-Ferrari]
11) Valtteri Bottas [Williams-Renault]
12) Esteban Gutierrez [Sauber-Ferrari]
13) Jules Bianchi [Marussia-Cosworth]
14) Charles Pic [Caterham-Renault]
15) Giedo van der Garde [Caterham-Renault]
16) Max Chilton [Marussia-Cosworth]

Did Not Finish
Fernando Alonso [Ferrari] Lap 2 - Accident & Front Wing
Paul di Resta [Force India-Mercedes] Lap 22 - Pits Wheel Nut Issue
Adrian Sutil [Force India-Mercedes] Lap 27 - Pits Wheel Nut Issue
Pastor Maldonado [Williams Renault] Lap 45 - Spun Out
Daniel Ricciardo [Toro Rosso-Ferrari] Lap 51
Jenson Button [McLaren Mercedes] Lap 53

10 Things We Learnt From: Australia

Number One Drivers Ruled
As you can see in the F1 Hub teammate battle tracker (see link below), the large majority who has the first number on the front of their car and are considered 'number one' driver outran their teammates. The noticeable expections being Sutil finishing ahead of di Resta (just), and Bottas overall performing better than Maldonado who had a poor weekend all-round. I'm sure these battles are just spicing up though!

http://f1-hub.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/f1hub-teammate-battle-tracker-australia.html


McLaren Have Swapped With Ferrari
Ferrari started with a dismal car at the start of last year, and McLaren have obviously being spying on them again as they have a terrible car to start the campaign with - between 2 and 3 seconds off the pace in dry one-lap pace. Malaysia will be interesting for them, with a better performance if it rains, but China and particularly will be key races to turning their year around before it's too late.


More Predictable Than We May Have Anticipated
After many mixed up results in the first half of the season last year, three tops teams, with Mercedes lurking behind dominated the weekend. It was nice not to see one team dominate the opening weekend, and 3 to 4 teams battle out qualifying and the race from the start. I won't be surprised if Lotus, Ferrari and Red Bull stay at the front permanently  with Mercedes and eventually McLaren mixing in top positions when the track suits them, leaving it harder for midfield teams to podium it up.


Marussia No.10 & Bianchi
Yes, Pic finished ahead of Chilton's Marussia, but due to his first lap incident resulting in a wing change. Max scrapped with van der Garde in the second Caterham, before overtaking and pulling away considerably. Meanwhile, Bianchi impressively was only 1 lap behind rather than 2 like the other back runners, and set the 11th fastest time of the race! I'm going to put it out there now just incase it happens, future world championship contender? Will be considering this over the course of the season..


Red Bull's Need To Be Careful Setting Up Their Race Car
Red Bull's high downforce, high drag setup may have cost them a lot of time, as Vettel was stuck behind Sutil for a number of laps as he had no straight line speed to overtake. It was only due to fresh tyres and a brave lunge down into turn 3 that he did it after they had both pitted. Whilst I don't think Red Bull had the pace to do better than 3rd anyway, it may cost them in future races. Perhaps they could loose a bit of downforce just so they have the ability to overtake as well.


2011 Style Tyres
After a slightly more conservative 2012, particularly in the last few races, we're back in Pirelli 2011 land. Marbles, chunking and particularly graining tyres galore. It won't be long till top drivers start to complain.. oh wait Vettel takes the first punt at the Italian manufacturer! As long as the races stay good, and pit stops stay at 2-3 per driver though, i'm not complaining.


Grosjean Didn't Crash But..
..where was he in comparison to Kimi who won the race! 10th! Over 80 seconds behind, on average 1.0-1.5 seconds a lap slower. Whichever way you look at it, and upgrade familiarisation aside, that is A LOT. Will need to have consistent good pace as the year progresses to keep his seat again.


Choosing Sutil For Force India Seems Like A Good Choice
Sutil had a screamer of a race thanks to strategy and solid, solid pace.. until he strapped on the super-softs. The Force India teammate battle could be one of the best again, with so much at stake for both.


Mercedes Tyres Are Touch And Go
Hamilton tried a two-stop in Melbourne, but had to change to a later three-stop race, as the tyres wouldn't have quite lasted. Their 2012 car was massively hard on it's tyres generally, but seemed to have improved this, and if can improve slightly more will join the top three teams in the race more easier.


Sauber & Hulkenberg Both Have No Luck In Melbourne
Hulkenberg's Australian races in 2010, 2012 and 2013 have had two first-lap collisions, and now a DNS (did not start). Sauber have had multiple crashes too, as well as being disqualified in 2011 from an excellent 7th and 8th. Looking forward to seeing what Hulkenberg can do the rest of the year though, with a possible top drive on the line in the next year or two..


Come back for our race report, teammate battle tracker and 10 things we learnt from articles, which will be posted after every race weekend!

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Nick, F1 Hub