McLaren, and F1, Full of Eastern Promise

Today may well have provided the moment upon which the 2011 F1 season properly exploded into life. That moment was the split second that Sebastian Vettel stuttered off the grid, having miscalculated his start revs, and showed to the world, and Messrs. Button and Hamilton, that he is indeed human as they streaked past him in their silver machines into the first turn. With the reigning world champ and current standings leader under pressure for the first time in weeks, the stage was set for a nail-bitingly entertaining Grand Prix, and spectators were not to be disappointed.

The deliberately catastrophic degradation rates on the new Pirelli tyres are changing not only pit stop tactics, but also the very manner of driving that drivers can afford to deploy out on circuit. 

P Zero tyres - losing their marbles

Those who berate the FIA for somewhat undermining natural competition in the hunt for regular overtaking may well bemoan the fact that disastrous qualifying by Mark Webber afforded him a wealth of fresh tyres for race day, allowing him to mercilessly chase down the front runners from 18th at nigh-on Vettel-in-Q3 pace. 

There can be much said in a negative sense that F1 is being strangled by the stringent regulations on aerodynamics, pit stops, tyre use, and engine output, defying the very point of the series, in demonstrating the most cutting edge technology being piloted by the world's best helmsmen. Sure, if you watch highlights of the 2008 Interlagos race, when Hamilton snatched the title from Massa on the penultimate corner of the final lap, then you'd easily argue that state-of-the-art aero and refuelling in races in no way hampered scintillating racing. However, ugly wings on the wide front and tall rear, slick tyres, and now movable wings and KERS are a fully fledged aspect of the sport, deciding races, causing overtakes and challenging the next generation of Adrian Newey wannabes to deliver ever-improved performance. On the evidence of Vettel's qualifying lap for China being the fastest the admittedly young circuit has ever witnessed, it's not a big issue. 

Brazilian GP 2008: The best race of modern times (?)

Movable wings and boost buttons may upset die-hard purists, but they go a long way to making circuits like China, Malaysia and potentially Abu Dhabi much more watch-able. All of these tracks feature enormous straight sections allowing cars to reach the upper echelons of their 200mph performance over 50 times in an afternoon. When you're designing fantasy tracks in the back of a maths book as a child (was that just me?) long straights were great as a drag strip section, envisaging cars dicing for position, three abreast, at over 200mph down the track. In reality though, long stretches simply encouraged single-file slip streaming before a simple, incontestable pass in the braking zone. The 2011 rules encourage a driver to pursue his quarry throughout the lap, in order to be within the one-second DRS window before the long straights, which can be fully used, once the rear wings are opened, for proper flat out racing down their entire length. 

Combinations of well-deployed tyres, KERS, and DRS, with old-fashioned driving skill, gave a thoroughly deserved victory to Lewis Hamilton today, while his team-mate could do nothing about Mr Aussie Grit himself lunging through the field to assert himself on the podium. Long may panache-rich drives such as this continue through the season, especially in the more old school European tracks like Spa and Silverstone. Can the rules alterations encourage meaningful overtaking in tight city stages like Monaco and Valencia?

 Today was one of the more tidy Grand Prix of recent runs, with minimal contact between drivers and an absence of rallycross heroics from the old suspects, Kobayashi and Petrov. Definite congratulations to Felipe Massa as well for (yet) again dominating his supposed Ferrari overlord Alonso for race pace. Quite typical that the controversial Spaniard looks set to escape punishment for illegally deploying his open rear wing; the phantom advantage was apparently the result of a system malfunction on the his car. Pity...

Comedy plaudits of the day are shared between BBC commentator David Coulthard's persistent need to pronounce every driver's name differently to the legendary Martin Brundle, and for Jenson Button cruising nonchalantly through Vettel's expectant Red Bull pit lane box on the way to his own team. Wonder why the particular radio transmission which followed that momentary saga wasn't broadcast...

Roll on Turkey's turn on May 8th.

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