Well, what a busy few days it has been in the world of sport. We’ve seen: Synchronized win the Gold Cup in sensational style and Kauto Star bow out of Cheltenham with dignity (a blog post on him coming up in the next few days), Wales clinch a brilliant Grand Slam in the Six Nations, Sachin Tendulkar finally reach his 100th international century as well as the beginning of the 2012 Formula 1 season and tragic events in North London – more of which later. It’s been a crazy week and one that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed (not least of which because I finished £80 up on my bets at Cheltenham.)
Let’s have a more in-depth look at the Australian Grand Prix and let me announce a fairly ambitious project that The Eternal Sunshine will be undertaking for the entire F1 season. We’ll be aiming to cover every race, bringing in analysis and opinion in the form of a race preview after qualifying and a race review after the main event on the Sunday. Hopefully it’ll be a season to remember and not just a constant stream of S. Vettel at the top of the timesheets and leaderboards. Now, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year then you’ll know that the BBC have lost the exclusive rights to broadcast F1 until 2018 and they will now be forced to share the coverage with Sky. The BBC will broadcast 10 races live with the rest being covered by highlights later in the day while Sky will be showing every session of every race weekend live and in “High Definition with Dolby 5.1 surround sound” as the rather scary voiceover man keeps telling me everytime I switch on the new channel. Oh yeah, they’ve dedicated an entire channel to F1, GP2 and GP3 (no Le Mans?) which is a clear sign of their dedication to a sport that they have pretty much neglected to mention for the last 10 years. So for this part of the preview I’d like to discuss the Sky broadcasting effort.
Who will win the ratings war?
I’ve watched every single session on Sky so far and the coverage has actually been very good – typical Sky though, lots of shiny graphics and random features that are under the illusion that they bring the viewer closer to the sport but we all know that they are just fillers. I liked their feature on Caterham but there is very much of an ITV feel when it comes to the stats they like to feature before the ad breaks. The presenting team are by far the biggest issue so far. Simon Lazenby is still very green when it comes to F1 and has very much the look of the new boy trying to fit in – he missed a golden opportunity to make a name for himself when he didn’t try and doorstop Alonso when the Spaniard was heading back to the pits after crashing out of Q2. Martin Brundle is still Martin Brundle, very knowledgeable, quite a big ego about his credentials and wanting to be lead presenter while Damon Hill is Sky’s Eddie Jordan without any of the brashness. I loved Damon as a driver but at Sky he never seems to talk without being spoken to which is a shame because he has some good opinions and insight. Ted Kravitz is charming as ever but may face competition from the BBC which we’ll discuss in a second. The main bugbear of my time watching the channel though was the presence of the “Skypad” – basically a studio that houses a giant touchscreen and where Georgie Thompson apparently is caged during the race weekend. She offers nothing to the coverage other than going “Go on then Anthony Davidson, tell everyone what they need to know while I stand here and look pretty” – typical Sky then. As for the rest of the programming, David Croft is a decent commentator but needs to stop trying to out-Murray the great Murray Walker and the ad breaks need to be introduced better. Oh and get some decent programming on the channel, don’t just repeat the same old shows over and over!
I came away from Sky to watch the BBC’s efforts and that’s when it hit me – Sky just didn’t match up. Jake Humphrey is a much better presenter than Lazenby and has a much more natural rapport with the drivers and his co-presenter. Coulthard is much more relaxed in his role as a number 2 and Ben Edwards is perhaps the most talented commentator working at the moment. Where the BBC has really upped the game though is in the technical analysis. Ted Kravitz was very good at his job but could only go so far in his analysis but his replacement, ex-Jordan designer Gary Anderson, can be much more detailed. His reports so far have been simply superb and enlightening, check out his analysis of Ferrari’s woes for example. The BBC’s coverage was just slicker and the change in personnel has really freshened the feel of the programme up and the reduced running time has also improved the show. It wasn’t like Sky was bad but as my girlfriend put it, it was like having to adjust to Matt Smith as The Doctor after being used to David Tennant, who she loves. Round one to BBC then.
Away from the broadcasting, qualifying itself was a thrilling affair. I can’t remember a session as exciting as that for many years. The field is so tightly packed this season that anyone from McLaren, Red Bull, Lotus, Mercedes or even the Williams’ could have taken pole position. Let’s go through session by session.
Qualifying 1
With 24 cars on track the biggest problem in the opening minutes was traffic with the HRT of Nahrain Karthikeyan attracting particular criticism as he held up first Alonso then Vettel. Neither HRT would set a time within 107% of the quickest time in Q1 so will not make the grid – a relief to the rest of the cars I’m sure. The usual suspects of Marussia (formerly Virgin) and Caterham were eliminated after Q1 but by far the biggest shock of the session and of the day was Kimi Raikonnen’s sloppy performance that left him down in 18th, later revised to 17th after Perez got a penalty for replacing his gearbox. Raikonnen had struggled all weekend with a steering issue and never looked like matching the pace of his less experienced teammate. A mistake coming out of the Waite chicane that put him on the grass cost him a faster time and it’ll be fascinating to see how he makes up the places tomorrow.
Qualifying 2
Q2 was always going to be a tight battle with one big team going out and that big team turned out to be Ferrari. They’ve struggled with their car all through the winter and in Melbourne it looked twitchier than ever with Massa ending up in the gravel in practice and Alonso wrestling the car almost every lap. The pull-rod front suspension seems to have not worked the way the team expected although we’re truly seeing how good a driver Alonso is and that can only be good for the neutral. Massa just couldn’t handle the imbalance of the car and ended up 16th. Alonso was just getting his eye in and looking like he could scrape into Q3 but he dropped a wheel onto the grass on the entry to turn 1 and ended up beached in the gravel, leaving him 12th. Another disappointment were the two Saubers who again failed to live up to their winter testing pace and they ended up 13th and 22nd (after Perez’s gearbox change.) Toro Rosso were very solid and their new car continued to impress with Ricciardo getting into Q3 ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in 11th. Paul di Resta was left rueing a lack of consistency on his tyres and traffic as he languished down in 15th but the big trend in Q2 was that the midfield was so tight this season.
What a way to bounce back - he has got to be happy with that
Qualifying 3
This session was all about one man – Lewis Hamilton. His lap in the early minutes of Q3 was not beaten with only Jenson Button coming close. The McLarens had looked strong all weekend but I’m not sure if that’s down to pure pace or the fact that their car is suited to this circuit. Romain Grosjean put in the performance of the day to snatch 3rd for Lotus ahead of 7 time World Champion Michael Schumacher. Mercedes are the talk of the paddock after it was revealed that their DRS system has a built in F-duct within the rear wing. When the DRS is activated, the airflow is re-distributed around the rear of the car via a slot within the endplate – all very simple – but Lotus have complained the F-duct is driver operated and protested the qualifying results. Personally, I think it’s perfectly legal and the F-duct is acting as a secondary device but then so was the infamous ride-height system that Lotus and Ferrari were working on so by that basis, that should be deemed legal too. Rosberg, in the other Silver Arrow, had two minor mistakes that cost him time and left him in 7th. As for Red Bull, they massively disappointed me today. All the talk had been of them still having to show their hand and Christian Horner even said that they hadn’t run a low fuel programme all winter before qualifying but when push came to shove, they just didn’t have the pace. Webber qualified 5th with KERS issues and Vettel could only manage 6th. The reigning World Champion looked uneasy without the backing of the blown diffuser and ended up in the gravel in FP3. Maybe they’re hiding something for the race but they’re facing a real uphill battle. Maldonado, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo rounded out the top 10.
So, what awaits us in the race tomorrow? I can see McLaren being very strong if their winter testing race pace was anything to go by but don’t rule out Red Bull just yet – it’s unlike them to give up without a fight. With new tyres and less technical innovations this season it will be more about the strategists and the drivers. Schumacher could well be on for a podium while further back the Ferraris and Raikonnen won’t find carving up the field easy this season. Kimi will be given a baptism of fire on his return to the sport. My prediction is this:
1.Button (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes)
2. Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes)
3. Schumacher (Mercedes AMG Petronas)
But as those of you who follow this blog will know, my predictions are woeful!
Finally, onto a very upsetting story indeed as the FA Cup clash between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur was abandoned tonight because England U21 international and Bolton player Fabrice Muamba collapsed in the middle of the game. I was instantly reminded of Marc Vivien-Foe’s tragic death after he collapsed on the football pitch playing for Cameroon. It’s something that puts the game and sport in general into perspective and has united the entire footballing community behind one cause. I have felt for a long time that clubs should have more stringent medicals and hopefully this incident will force those responsible to recognise that fact. Close analysis of the heart and brain should be taken every few months to ensure that a player is capable of playing top level football every week. Fabrice is a wonderful talent and I would like to echo one Bolton fan’s statement: “I don’t care if he never pulls on a Bolton shirt again as long as he pulls through”. Our thoughts are with Fabrice and his family at this time.
On that sombre note, I bid you goodnight. I shall see you tomorrow after the first Grand Prix of the year with full coverage, pictures and analysis of the show at Albert Park. It will be the written equivalent of “High Definition with Dolby 5.1 surround sound”.
The Eternal Sunshine of the Sporting Mind 