F1 - THE FOG OF WAR
- 29 May 2013
It is oft said that truth is the first casualty of war. It is also a truism that in battle a plan does not survive the first shots. So it is in Grand Prix racing. Not one teams weekend went as planned and many found that the truth, or at least their version of the truth, went up in flames as well. Whether it was Red Bull, Hispania or Pirelli, something unplanned hit everyone. The weather was certainly unplanned, with mid afternoon temperatures struggling to break out of the teens. This, combined with the non-abrasive nature of Albert Park meant that teams were struggling to get the new Pirelli tyres up to operating temperature. Some, of course, more than others.
The Pirelli problem was a perplexing one, although it gave us the wide variety of strategies that it was hoped for. Some drivers struggled to make the tyres last and three stopped, thus getting help up behind slower cars and being unable to unlock the speed of the new sets. Two stops seemed to be the optimum strategy as shown by the podium getters, Vettel, Hamilton and Petrov. Startlingly, Sauber's Sergio Perez made only a single stop and made it work with a superb drive to seventh place. Pity about the rear wing.
Lotus were the most vocal about their problems with the Pirellis, claiming that that they were unable to get sufficient temperature into the tyres during short qualifying runs. Their pace compared to the leaders in longer race stints seems to add weight to their explanation of their poor qualifying performance but this is one of those truth thingies. Everyone had the same tyres. All the other teams, barring Virgin and Hispania, were able to deal with the tyre/conditions predicament better than Lotus. The problem therefore, in cooler conditions, is either the Lotus or the drivers. From the footage of poor Karun Chandhok's concrete interface moment, it is possibly that the car just doesn't like cold tyres. Yeah, the guy's inexperienced at this level but he's not that crap a driver. He often out-performed Bruno Senna last year while he was in the HRT. We wait to see how they perform in qualifying at Sepang. It will be warm there so Lotus's excuses in Australia will have no standing if there is not marked improvement.
As previously stated though, all teams had their problems. Even Red Rags weekend was problematic. Sure, Vettel had a brilliant weekend and showed just how good Newey's latest brainchild is. But Webber was struggling. Struggling for outright pace, struggling to make the tyres last, struggling to better his result here in a Minardi. In all of these he failed. Why? Is it that Vettel has improved by eight tenths of a second since last year? Sorta doubt it although winning that first title can make one more confidant. Mark has lost eight tenths in pace over the winter, not likely either. Remember these two were so closely matched last year that they were usually split by hundredths, if not thousandths of a second in qualifying and after Hungary Webber had more wins and more podiums than Vettel and was comfortably leading the title chase. Car doesn't suit Webber's driving style? Possibly, but he has had that problem before and it hasn't put him that far off his team-mate. There were murmurs from Christian Horner about a possible chassis problem which may be an explanation or maybe Webber is just not destined to have that great race at Albert Park. Think Barrichello and Interlagos. Sometimes it is just not meant to be. And then the Red Rags had their KERS turned off for the race as they were a reliability concern so that didn't help Webber when he got stuck in traffic after his first stop. No KERS no pass. Again, Sepang may give us some more answers.
Team Britannia seems to have told the truth when they finally admitted that the new wonder exhaust system on the MP4/26 was the equivalent of emu excrement. They then bolted on a bog standard version with a relatively simple under-tray and were instantly close to the pace. The Hoon celebrated his monikers first anniversary by beating Webber to a front row spot on the grid and a fine second place in the race. Not something that anyone thought possible just a fortnight ago. Jenson drove a splendidly, albeit unusually, aggressive race, absolutely hounding Massa through the first stint until getting a drive-through for cutting the corner where he finally managed to barge his way by the Ford pick-up, err sorry, Ferrari. He was heard over the radio querying how the pick-up was able to pull away from him on the main straight while the McLaren's adjustable rear wing was in the open position. It was likely that the barn door that McLaren bolted onto the back of their car to make up for that simple under-tray might just have had something to do with it.
Meanwhile over at Ferrari their plans went array when their latest offering showed good pace on the straight bits but was as quick as the aforementioned pick-up in the twisty bits. Neither King Fernando or the mended Massa ever looked like troubling the Red Rags or Team Britannia and even connived to finish behind the very impressive Vitaly Petrov. The Silver Slings simply proved that their "Oh Fuck" moment hadn't actually vanished overnight in Barcelona. The unfortunate truth emerged that they were about where they were last year and again the gap between Nico and the unter-ubermensch was still about three to four tenths of a second in qualifying. Had they miraculously fixed their car? Well it wasn't quite as much of a Bassett Hound as it had been in early testing but it is still nowhere near the pace.
In the Renault camp it came as a bit of a surprise when quick Nick was blitzed all weekend by Petrov. Quick Nick was so un that he failed to get out of qualy one while Vitaly saved the teams plans by planting his black and gold beauty in sixth on the grid and having a superb race to take the final podium spot. Team Willy's weekend was a disaster with both cars suffering from transmission problems. Neither car shone nor finished so their truth of nipping at the heels of the front runners is looking a bit shaky. Force India was probably the most realistic going into the race. Since their stunning pole at Spa in 2009 they have been sliding slowly back to the tail end of the mid-fielders so to have both drivers scoring points was a pleasant surprise for the squad. Even if it was only by the two Saubers being disqualified.
Speaking of having your best laid plans buggered up. The Saubers showed reasonable pace in qualifying and the duo finished seventh and eighth in the race with the impressive Sergio Perez leading home Kamikaze Kobayashi. Sauber's sneaky plan of have Perez only one stop was not considered feasible by the rest of the paddock but it came off beautifully for the Mexican youngster. Until scrutineering of course. When both Saubers were rubbed out with a rear wing infringement, which they briefly considered appealing but finally accepted. Bugger.
Toro Rosso's testing pace was shown not to be an underweight ploy after all and Buemi startled everybody by planting his steed in the top ten in qualifying and had a steady run to claim eighth place in the final results. Lotus's woes have already been mentioned but Virgin seems to have fallen even further back from last year and were a good two seconds behind the Lotus's. HRT were a shambles as they again tried to build their cars at the first race but this year they were caught out by the 107% rule which was strictly enforced. They were packing for Sepang on Saturday evening defiantly claiming they would put up a better result in Malaysia. Then again, they couldn't really do much worse.
So what do we really know about the pecking order after Albert Park. Not much. The Red Rags are fast, the Virgins aren't. Everyone else had plans and expectations go array and even Pirelli didn't get what they expected from their tyres. It was too cold for the tyres, the straight was too short for the movable rear wings to have any effect, Red Rags turned off their KERS and the list goes on. Roll on Sepang where many more answers, however temporary, will be revealed.
Sam Snape
02/04/2011