Inside Line F1 Podcast - Points For Everyone? Please, No, F1

The 'points for all' topic is disturbing. No, please don't go down this road, Formula 1. We've gone from awarding points to top-6 to top-8 and now 50% of the grid (top-10) scores points. By increasing the base of points scorers to 100% (all-20), we will go from incentivising drivers to win or finish higher to simply just finishing races. Is this Formula 1's way of retaining Fernando Alonso?

In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, the 'What Wolff Said This Week' section is hilarious, because Toto Wolff did have a lot to say in the 2018 British Grand Prix. We discuss if Mercedes and Haas can learn a thing of two from Force India, the epic (and rare!) Kimi Raikkonen vs. Max Verstappen battle, the creative use of DRS by the FIA and how we shouldn't be harsh in judging Stoffel Vandoorne's talent just yet. Also, we explain why the talk of Mercedes being inexperienced to handle fierce external competition is untrue. Tune in!

(Season 2018, Episode 22)

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Inside Line F1 Podcast - Why Microphones To Enhance F1 Engines Sounds Is A Good Idea

Is Formula 1 going too artificial by thinking of introducing ceramic microphones to enhance the sounds of the F1 engines? Or is it an acceptable solution from a sports broadcast point of view? Unlike the DRS, this is one solution that we don't mind supporting the sport for.

In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, we wonder if the race organisers of the Malaysian Grand Prix blurted out the absolute truth about the sport, while also claiming that they wouldn't play host to Formula 1 even if it was offered for free! Ouch!

We discuss Paul Hembrey's idea of introducing 'mini cups' along side the World Championship to make the longer seasons more interesting and Graham Keilloh's novel idea of crowning the driver with the maximum race laps led as that season's Drivers' Champion.

And then of course, we have our usual McLaren-Honda section, along with a much-needed one for Daniel Ricciardo. As we look forward to Suzuka, let's hope Ferrari's engines don't hit Honda mode yet again.

(Season 2017, Episode 33)

Subscribe to the Inside Line F1 Podcast on iTunes and audioBoom for your weekly dose of Formula 1 humour.

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Ban The DRS, Not The Radio

The radio ban is unfair, and Lewis Hamilton will agree. How can you expect drivers to race and solve engineering puzzles at 300kmph? For all the stupid rules Formula 1 has, DRS continues to live on. In this week’s episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, ban DRS and not radio, we say! And till then, Lewis will be happy to know that the radio ban does not extend to Snapchat!

Formula 1 went wrong with their map, letting a country that's more in Asia host the European Grand Prix. Guess money can buy anything in this sport! If Baku becomes a night race, we won't get to see the pretty castles - through we are no longer sure if they were just giant print outs of castles? We also deconstruct the entire incorrect engine mode saga (Mercedes, so stupid).

Formula 1's favourite bromance has gone further downhill after Lauda openly criticised Hamilton’s race at Baku. Nico Rosberg is not just copying Hamilton's car setup, but he's also copying helmet manufacturers. Hamilton has managed to get Mercedes to sponsor his acting films, smart guy. But just what does he have to do to get Penelope Cruz's attention?

Sebastian Vettel should be appointed as the Official Joker of Formula One - as Bernie Ecclestone's successor, we mean. Perhaps Heineken will consider a sponsorship with Ferrari because the team seems drunk all the time - they still think they can win the Constructors' Championship! Vettel made Ferrari change their pitstop strategy mid-race, so obviously it's him running the team and not Arrivabene. Could Sergio Perez have won the race if not for his gearbox penalty? Alonso is having a 'luxury retirement' at McLaren, is that why the team has just appointed a lifestyle partner?

Lastly, Red Bull Racing had a forgettable outing in Azerbaijan, but it seems that Daniel Ricciardo chose to forgive and forget while renewing his contract. Or is this a hint that Ferrari will renew the always struggling Kimi Raikkonen?

Tune in!

(Season 2016, Episode 21)

DRS Has Ruined Formula One, by Kunal Shah

There's a Drag Reduction System (DRS) and then there's a debate on the benefit it offers the sport of Formula 1. To me, both points are absolutely ridiculous.

Photo: Octane Photography

Forty per cent fans believe that DRS has done good to the sport. I beg to differ. It has made the art of overtaking look mechanical, boring and far less heroic than ever before.

Basis my research and to be fair to the brains that introduced the DRS, it was a system that was designed to allow the car following to come closer to the car being followed and offer some wheel-to-wheel to action. But it seems that the drawing board to track implementation of the DRS went the 2015 Honda V6 hybrid engine way.

The advancement and over-dependence on aerodynamics is one of the chief reasons for lack of overtaking on track and hence to be blamed for dumb-ifying overtaking. But I guess this is the sign of times we're in - smartphone, dumb user!

Monza Preview: F1's soul survivor

The modern F1 calendar, to put it euphemistically, divides opinion. But in this two-week period after the summer break these days you will hardly find a murmur of objection. The stops-offs for that brief spell suddenly become recognisable and wonderful; embody a lot of what F1 is, or should be. We've just been to Spa of course, and this weekend coming we'll be in Monza, the venue for the Italian Grand Prix. Right now a lot feels right in ordinarily-disputatious F1.

Inimitable Monza
Photo: Octane Photography

But even with this we have reason to believe that, in the latest act of the sport's folly, one indeed that likely outstrips all of the folly of before, Monza in F1 may not be long for this earth. In Belgium Bernie Ecclestone said there was a "good chance" that there won't be a new deal after the current one ends after next year's event. It's far from the first threat to the Italian Grand Prix here but this one is looking difficult to overcome. As ever the lack of financial wedge for Bernie and his friends at CVC Capital Partners is depressingly the problem. Heritage, schmeritage.

So what is it about Monza? Why does just about anyone whose heart has beaten a little faster for a racing car anticipate this venue's round like no other? On one level its a tricky one to explain as there are a few things not to like about it. The venue lacks the gleaming modernity of the newer ones. The place has never entirely shaken its vague feeling of chaos. Unlike Spa's its layout isn't all that much of a driving challenge these days either. It can't even really be counted upon to produce a wonderful race. But still it puts in mind the adage that if you have to ask then you'll never know...

Dear Sir, Am I Alone in Thinking? - Buxton gets it bang on

It was a lot like reading one of those letters to a newspaper that starts 'Dear Sir, Am I alone in thinking....?'. And upon reading it concluding no, you're not alone. I think exactly the same.

An article written by F1 journalist and NBC's pit lane reporter (as well as he of the GP2 and GP3 commentary and podium interviews) Will Buxton, cryptically titled 'New Coke', I'm talking about. My reading it gave that rarest of sensations, that of viewing the thoughts of another yet rather feeling you are having your mind read. You can have a scan of it yourself here: http://willthef1journo.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/new-coke/. I strongly suggest that you do.

Will Buxton (left) - got it spot on
Photo: Octane Photography

F1 on track fare is definitely boring right now. It's letting everyone down. People keep telling us this, after all. And demonstrating as much crisis meetings are being held in response. There was one among the teams and Bernie in Hungary last weekend; another today apparently. Yet another awaits around Monza time as proposed by Ferrari Chairman Luca Montezemolo.

To back it all up this year's TV viewing numbers have been disappointing reportedly, the latest step in a long-term decline on that front. Plus much of the recent German Grand Prix was conducted in front of vast numbers of those disguised convincingly as empty grandstand seats. All pretty irrefutable then? Well, as Buxton points out, no.

Further thoughts on the Canadian Grand Prix

Casting a shadow over Montreal
Fernando Alonso summed it up after the Canadian Grand Prix: 'Today there is nothing to celebrate'. The race was a reasonably diverting one, containing plenty of worthy drives and deserved results. But in the hours after the event suddenly few were in the mood for conviviality, as news filtered through that a volunteer track marshal called Mark Robinson had been killed in an accident when returning Esteban Gutierrez's stricken Sauber to the pits after the race.

We all owe marshals a debt of gratitude
Credit: Morio / CC

It may sound like a cliché, but it's no less true for that, that anyone who cares about motor sport owes marshals an immeasurable debt of gratitude. No exaggeration this: no marshals, almost no motor sport. Motor sport cannot take place without them there, and while if no one volunteered to marshal the top-level categories such as F1 could probably find the cash to pay track marshals those categories lower down certainly could not. Marshalling is something I do myself on occasion, and every time I do it the skills and professionalism that marshals always exhibit astounds me, as does the extent that many of them give up their time - some almost every weekend - in order to volunteer (I don't count myself among this on either count - I only marshal for a handful of days a year).

Seemingly the accident happened while performing the sort of task that any marshal does routinely, often several times in a weekend. As the Sauber was being returned to the pits by a pick-up vehicle Robinson, there to keep the car at a steady level and pointed straight ahead, stumbled while trying to pick up a dropped radio handset, and was then run over by the vehicle. He succumbed to his injuries later that day.

Montreal Preview: A heady mix of variables

F1 is at Montreal. And no matter what for one weekend at least all seems right with the sport.

There are lots of reasons for this (and I tried to outline a few of them in my recent article about the track), but a major one is that races around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve island venue tend to have a diverting, and often a rather madcap, quality; thus predicting what is likely to happen in them is a hazard-strewn task.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal - a popular venue
that provides entertaining races
Credit: magicfab / CC

Many variables go into this. It is a circuit that gives more scope than most to hustle a sub-standard car around (being as it is made up essentially straights, chicanes and hairpins) and thus run closer to the cars that are more benign. Walls are close at Montreal, meaning that mistakes are punished much more readily than elsewhere, while safety cars in races are also common, and these frequently bunch and sometimes jumble the pack. And adding to these variables is that the track's configuration is overtaking-friendly; it was considered this way even before F1's lively modern era of DRS and Pirellis. As if to underline all of this, it is one of the very few venues on the contemporary calendar that the haughty Red Bull team has never won at.

Further thoughts on the Bahrain Grand Prix

Here comes Bahrain again
And thus F1 has endured its second weekend in Bahrain since the Arab Spring, and its second which afterwards private exhalations of relief may be had that the event just about went off without problems. Admittedly, there appeared a slightly lower level of background issues for the F1 bubble this time compared with what there was last year: no protesters died in the course of the weekend (as far as we know), and no members of the F1 fraternity were caught up in clashes as they were then.

Bahrain Grand Prix - a focus for protesters
Credit: Hamel Alrayeh / CC

And yet I'm no nearer to understanding why exactly the sport's decision-makers think going to Bahrain right now is a good idea. Yes, I'm aware that there are (reportedly) 50 million reasons for the fraternity to turn up, and Bernie/CVC are conspicuously wont to follow the money. But even still I cannot fathom why anyone at the top of the sport thinks that this credit outweighs the rather obvious debit. The debit being that F1 is being used as a country PR exercise by a regime (and by extension a PR exercise for the regime itself) at the same time that the regime has a criticised human rights record and faces daily protests and unrest from its citizens demanding democracy and reform (for whom the F1 race is a clear focus of discontent, unsurprising given the regime's closeness to the event and desire to derive prestige from it). And this unrest is prone to descend into violence from both sides. At best the sport appears uncaring, at worst that it's siding with oppression. And the broad perception was that matters in Bahrain hadn't moved on much since F1's last visit 12 months ago.

As outlined on this site before the race, it represents a toxic mix of two of the sport's most notorious vices: taking short term financial gain in return for longer term and less immediately tangible pain, as well as a disregard for how it's viewed more widely and why this is important. The sport relies on the world around it in a number of ways, most notably that's where it gets its fans from. It's also where it gets its sponsorship and technical involvement, and all three of these groups have plenty of options of where to invest their time and money. F1 is inviting peril by disregarding this.

Final thoughts on 2012: The year that F1 went crazy

Imagine you were the racing gods and could write the script for an F1 season, what would it include? Exciting races, no doubt. Competitiveness may be high on your list, both among the nominal front-runners as well as plenty of competitors able to provide a surprise interloper presence at the front on certain days, resulting in a multitude of drivers and teams getting a win. Top quality driving too, with maybe three or four drivers providing magnificent displays almost every time, and others having ample impressive races. And the championship battle would be exhilarating and tight, have plenty of ebb and flow and be between several teams. It would also not be decided until the last, in a finale which if anything surpasses what came before. Well, the 2012 F1 season had all of these and more. Surely it will go down in history as a great one.

The 2012 F1 season will surely go down as a great one
Credit: Ryan Bayona / CC

In many ways the year was a continuation of F1's brave new world started in 2011. For that season the powers that be finally worked out that most of us thought that F1 racing bereft of racing cars racing each other didn't make for a diverting Sunday afternoon. And they went and did something about it; desperate times brought desperate measures with DRS, KERS and degrading Pirelli tyres. And say what you like about it but it certainly worked, with overtaking skyrocketing to levels not seen at any point since such things started to be measured. Suddenly F1 was not a resolution of pre-ordained strategy and fuel levels, races were no longer decided 'at the last stops'. 'Fake!' shouted the purists, but personally I'd much rather defend that point than defend dull races. And frankly the good ship of F1 purity sailed long ago (see narrow track, grooved tyres, downsized engines, parc ferme after qualifying, resource restriction etc etc).

But there were a couple of things missing last year if one was being greedy. One is, the F1 championship title destination was decided early, both metaphorically and literally. Another is that battle at the front had got rather samey. Aside from two early-season Enstone podium runs, only the 'big five' (Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Button and Alonso) got onto the podium in 2011. And we had to go back to the Brawns in 2009 for the last time something other than a Red Bull, McLaren or Ferrari won a race. We had to go back to Mark Webber's victory in Germany in mid-2009 for the last debut winner. These drawbacks were sorted emphatically this year.

Hungarian GP Report: Lewis's command and control

We really are seeing a new and improved Lewis Hamilton in 2012. In previous years we knew what to expect from him: astounding pace, freakish car control, bravery and aggression reminiscent of the great Gilles Villeneuve. All this remains, but this year he's harnessed it with a control and intelligence to manage his race, and in particular to manage the finite resource of the Pirelli tyres. The errors seem to have gone; last year's clumsiness when wheel-to-wheel is now like it was from another driver. And the difference in the positivity of his demeanour out of the car is also palpable. All of this was on display in Lewis's masterful Hungarian Grand Prix win today.

Lewis Hamilton was masterful in
winning the Hungarian Grand Prix
Credit: Ryan Bayona / CC

Lewis was the quickest thing around the Hungaroring from the moment a wheel was turned in Friday practice. Yet, his race today was no cruise and collect. Against expectations the rain stayed away today, which helped Lewis, but in line with some people's expectations the Lotuses showed their prodigious race pace - Lewis had one of them breathing down his neck all afternoon. Further, tyre life was marginal and the McLaren pitwall seriously considered bringing Lewis in for a third change late on, which no doubt would have lost him the win. But while all this was going on Lewis never put a wheel wrong that I saw, carefully looked after his boots, and the thought occurred as the race went on that despite the Lotuses' proximity Lewis had the thing well under control. Sure enough, he was able respond to any threat as necessary and tick off the laps, still out front at the end.

And today's win meant more than 25 points for Lewis, it was a declaration of intent heading into the five-week summer break and the subsequent final part of the season: Lewis fully intends to win the drivers' title this year. Yes, the road back will be a long one, mainly because before today he'd scored but four points in the three preceding races. But the McLaren looks bang on the money right now, and neither championship leader Fernando Alonso nor his team will be even close to disregarding Lewis's threat. Indeed, they may well now see Lewis as their primary rival.

Further thoughts on the Canadian Grand Prix

Variety is the spice of life
So it happened, we got our seven winners in seven races so far in 2012. And that's definitely a record (with or without the 1951 anomaly).

This hasn't pleased everyone, with for example the likes of Niki Lauda and Fernando Alonso joining those saying that such a variety of winners risks turning people away from the sport.

Well I respectfully disagree. Variety of winners is a good thing. You want evidence? Ask any F1 enthusiast which season was the best ever, and the year of 1982 will be prominent among the suggestions.

The Williams FW08, which took Keke Rosberg
to the 1982 world championship

Why is this? On the face of it, a lot was bad about 1982. It was a time of extreme political acrimony and bitterness in the sport, and one race had only 14 competitors due to a teams' strike. The cars with ground effect aerodynamics and rock hard suspension were unsatisfying and unpleasant to drive. What's more they were dangerous, and two F1 drivers (including the great Gilles Villeneuve) died in action that season, and one more (Didier Pironi) was injured severely and never raced again. Many of the races were processional, and the gaps on lap times between the competitors were often large (plus the Renaults were the fastest just about everywhere). There wasn't even a particularly close championship battle: Keke Rosberg effectively taped it all up with two rounds to go.

But what 1982 did have was 11 different winners in 16 races. Enjoy the 2012 'lottery'; you'll miss it when it's gone.

Further thoughts on the Chinese Grand Prix

Closer than close
If you were of the impression that sharp-end F1 results were getting a little samey in recent times, that's because they were. We hadn't a first-time Grand Prix winner for over two and a half years (since Mark Webber took his debut win, in Germany in mid-2009), and this at 49 races was the longest wait for a 'new' winner in the sport's history. No car other than a Red Bull, McLaren or Ferrari had won since the September of that year (when Rubens Barrichello took the flag at Monza for Brawn). Indeed, no non-member of the 'big five' as it were (that's Vettel, Webber, Button, Hamilton and Alonso) had won in that time either. And from the third race onwards last year, no one outside of that bunch even made the podium in 2011.

F1 in 2012 is much more competitive than we're used to
Credit: Morio / CC

Well, it looks like that's changing and then some. After Sergio Perez broke the podium run in Malaysia, Nico Rosberg and Mercedes in China ended the run without a new winner, in so doing making it three different drivers and teams winning the three rounds so far. And this has only been the thin end of the wedge: lap times across the order have definitely become much tighter this year. This is explained by a few things: Red Bull, with the passing of the aggressive exhaust blown diffuser, has been reigned in somewhat, and many teams behind have got their act together. This has most notably been the case with Mercedes and Lotus, who in ideal conditions seem to be pretty much on the front runners' pace. But much of the midfield, such as Williams and Sauber, have also made a definite forward strides. This is often the case in seasons with relative rule stability from the year before - teams behind can more easily learn the lessons of what is making the front runners quick, and adapt accordingly. And of course, the front runners' learning curves are shallower (it's therefore ironic that F1 tends to try to create a more competitive order by changing the rules).

Final thoughts on 2011: twenty-four cars battle for 90 minutes and at the end Vettel wins

Former England footballer Gary Lineker, shortly after losing to (then, West) Germany not for the first time, commented that: 'Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win'.

It's tempting to view the 2011 F1 season in similar terms. We were spoiled with lots of highly diverting races, characterised by impassioned and close racing with plenty of overtaking. And at the end of it all Sebastian Vettel was invariably at the front.

There were two key themes for the season. Sebastian Vettel's growth into a genuine top level performer in winning the drivers' title in double-quick time, and that overtaking returned to the sport at a rate that almost nobody could remember.

Credit: Russell Ford

Vettel's speed in clear air was well-established from recent seasons, but this year with the assurance of a surprise championship in his pocket he found a completely new level, as did the Red Bull team backing him up, who operationally hardly missed a beat. To cut a long story short, Seb's driving this term ruthlessly reversed the areas that had been seen as his weaknesses, and whatever happens from now on he'll surely go down as one of the sport's all-time greats. He's certainly the best 24 year old the sport has ever known - bar none. And while the RB7 was a mean set of wheels, Seb absolutely got the very best from it. His championship was mathematically all his with seven weeks of the season remaining. It was as good as his long before that.

The other key theme of the year was that the on track action was almost completely unrecognisable from what we had grown used to in years past. The lack of overtaking in F1 wasn't a new problem, and many potential 'solutions' had been tried before. But for 2011, desperate times brought desperate measures, with the introduction of DRS (Drag Reduction Systems - do keep up at the back) which allowed a car within a second of the car ahead at a certain 'zone' of the track to flatten its rear wing and thus increase its straightline speed.

Brazilian GP Report: Webber picks up the pieces to win finally in 2011

Not for the first time in 2011, today's race in Brazil was all about the Red Bulls. But what did happen for the first time this year, indeed for the first time since July 2010, was that Mark Webber won the day.

Mark Webber finally took a win in 2011
Credit: Morio / CC

It was made possible by car problems for Sebastian Vettel, making it the second time in two races that Seb's been hobbled. Seb did his usual thing of blasting off from pole into a clear lead in the early laps. Indeed, he was 2.2 seconds clear of his chasing team mate Webber in second place after just two tours. But from the fifth lap Seb's gearbox developed a problem, which forced him to short shift in second and third gears. Webber thus was able to reel him in gradually, and on lap 30 Seb yielded the lead to him graphically. Still, such was the Red Bull advantage Seb managed to nurse the thing home in second place, behind Webber who won as he liked. Such a state of affairs, the other teams not even being able to out pace an RB7 with a sick gearbox, must have been rather galling to everyone else. But that's another thing that happened not for the first time today.

The win will be a relief for Webber, even if it was by default to an extent. Going through a 19 race season with the stellar RB7 underneath him and not to win a race would have been an unwanted record. Still, he was never far off Vettel's pace today and didn't put a wheel out of line that I could see. He even managed to 'do a Seb' by claiming fastest lap on the last time around.

Korean GP Report: Vettel's perfect 10

So, was Sebastian Vettel going to ease up with his second title in the pocket, and four races remaining? Not a bit of it.

Sebastian Vettel won in fine style, clinching
the constructors' title for Red Bull as he did so
Credit: Morio / CC

It never was going to happen. Seb, more than most drivers, knows his place in history, and is a big fan of records. But more than all that he loves to race. He won again today - his 10th victory of the season (only Michael Schumacher has won more in a single year) and 20th ever (and it's sobering to think that Schumi at Vettel's age had only won once).

But today wasn't a shoo-in. Vettel really had to go out and win this one, and his performance was a masterful display of controlling a race from the front. Unusually, he didn't claim pole, and for much of the weekend the McLarens looked the class of the field, over a single lap in any case. But Seb managed to outbrake Hamilton into turn four on the opening tour after nice use of his loaf in KERS usage and forcing Hamilton into a sub-optimum line at the previous corner, and Seb employed his usual strategy from there. He scampered out of the DRS zone, didn't put a wheel wrong, and eased clear while letting those behind squabble. This has to be one of the best of his score of wins, even by their high standards. And not for the first time this season Red Bull had the confidence to commit to an unorthodox strategy from early in the weekend and make it work. It wraps up their second constructors' championship: richly deserved for an operation that has been as sweet as a nut this year and absolutely on top of their game.

Sebastian Vettel: A worthy 2011 champion

It's been close to an inevitability for a long time, and Sebastian Vettel today made it official. He's the 2011 World Drivers' Champion, his second world championship and he's not even 25 until next year. Not bad work.

In reality, this title has been Seb's effectively for a long time. From the point cars first turned a wheel in the opening weekend at Melbourne Seb's been a stride ahead of all others. His results in the opening eight rounds were six wins and two second places, and had the Chinese round been five laps and the Canadian one lap shorter he would have taken a clean sweep. That period also included tracks such at Monaco and Canada that were supposed to trip him up, but Seb has spent most of the season proving doubters wrong. Barring strange happenings, such as Niki Lauda's fiery accident at the Nurburgring in 1976, in the history of the sport drivers don't squander that sort of early advantage.

And despite the briefest of mid-season troughs that advantage has continued and been extended as the year has gone on. The numbers are striking testament to his persistent command: he's won nine of the fifteen races, claimed 324 of the 375 available points, and taken twelve pole positions (and counting, in all three cases). Indeed, going into the Japanese race Seb had led 582 of the 839 racing laps this year, almost six times as many of the next best, the 99 laps led by Lewis Hamilton. Seb's presence at the head of the pack has been ubiquitous, only in Germany was he not on his game, and only there did he finish off the podium.

Credit: Anthony Porcino / CC

Watching Seb's races this year has been a little like watching a film on a loop. The Vettel copybook is clear. First off, claim pole, and Vettel's scintillating speed and absolute assurance on a single flying lap usually ensures this (can you think of an error from Vettel in qualifying this year? No, I couldn't either). Then Seb takes the lead at the start, and the first lap is like flicking a switch, he's on it immediately and in most races this year he's been seconds clear at the of the first lap, leaving the opposition on their knees from the very beginning. He then gets himself enough of a gap to be outside the DRS 'window', so not to inflate the following car's speed, as well as to be able to react to whatever those behind do in terms of changing tyres, vital in a season wherein tyre performance has varied markedly, duration of tyre life is limited and frequent pitstops have been necessary. From that position, Seb goes as fast as he dares with regard to his tyres, his steering input meaning he keeps his in shape longer than many around him (including that of his team mate - a vital component of his increased advantage over Mark Webber this season compared to last). At Australia, Malaysia, Turkey, Valencia, Monza and Singapore the story has been almost identical.

It's time to stop the block

The guys who finished in the top three at Monza last weekend have barely had a look in. Much of the comment about the race since has concerned the guys that came fourth and fifth: Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. Most pertinently, it concerned Schumacher's tactics in defending his place from Lewis Hamilton, a battle that lasted for half the race.

Schumi's extreme pushing of the boundaries of acceptability when defending is well-established, and as it was, not for the first time, he escaped serious punishment at Monza. This was an outcome that split F1 fans pretty much down the middle, between the 'it's racing, it's entertaining, let them get on with it' group in one corner and the 'it was dangerous and clearly outside the rules' in the other.

Michael Schumacher has again been in the news
Credit: Alex Comerford / CC

In my view it's beyond doubt that, given the rules, Schumi should have received some censure for his tactics. The battle certainly provided entertainment, much of Schumi's defence of positioning his car on the inside line was, given the regs are as they are, in the 'hard but fair' category, and he was greatly assisted his his car's prodigious straightline speed. But even so some of Schumacher's moves in defending his place went beyond what the regulations say are acceptable.

Just as a reminder, article 20.2 of the sporting regulations states: 'Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as more than one change of direction to defend a position, deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are not permitted.' Schumacher, most notably, moved twice in defending his place ahead of Hamilton on lap 20 approaching the first Lesmo, right to the inside of the track and immediately right back to the racing line to take his apex. He did something similar, though less extreme, on laps 10, 11, 13, 15 and 21 on the run down to the Ascari complex. And of course he edged Hamilton off the track at Curve Grande on lap 16, which looked both dangerous in itself and an example of 'crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track'. Indeed, he was warned more than once by race control for his driving, the first time was even before the worst case on lap 20, and it transpires that he in all probability would have received a penalty for the lap 20 move had the stewards' attention not been elsewhere at that point (something subsequently admitted by driver steward Derek Daly - Daly talks in detail and with commendable frankness on his stewarding at Monza on The Flying Lap below).


Episode 36: Italian De-brief with Derek and Conor Daly from Smibs TV on Vimeo.
But the discussion got me thinking more widely about what should be considered acceptable in F1 when defending your position from a competitor in a race.

Monza Qualifying: Vettel cracks Monza

So, Monza isn't a Red Bull bogey track after all. Sebastian Vettel claimed yet another pole position, his 25th, and becomes only the second man in history to get ten or more of them in two separate seasons (it won't surprise you that Ayrton Senna is the other). At this rate Seb will be able to claim a copyright on them.

Sebastian Vettel claimed yet another pole position
Credit: Alex Comerford / CC

So while the pole itself wasn't a surprise, the fact that it came at Monza was. This wasn't supposed to be Red Bull country, they've never so much as finished on the podium here, usually finding themselves at a disadvantage on the track's predominant long straights. But the Bulls have spent the whole season proving people wrong at tracks that they were expected to be vulnerable at, and this weekend has been a continuation of this. They've looked like the team to beat for most of the weekend, and so it proved today as Vettel took pole with a time almost half a second clear of the next guy. Yes, his nearest challengers weren't able to maximise their final runs, but it was still a stunning performance.

Monza Preview: Red Bull to find a new frontier?

In F1, as with many things, you've either got it or you haven't. And without doubt Monza has got it.

Few rival the passion of the tifosi at Monza

'It' isn't always that easy to define, and so it isn't with Monza. But most likely it is related to a combination of the track's unparalleled heritage and the intense atmosphere provided by the Ferrari-loving tifosi looking on. Monza's seen cars racing here since 1922, and the layout, other than the addition of chicanes and the coming and going of a fearsome banking section, has remained broadly untouched in that time. Only in one season, 1980, has Monza not featured on an F1 calendar - no other track can boast anything close to that level of incumbency. All of F1's legends have raced here, many have perished, and the ghosts of warriors past seem to be conspicuous in the place. The list of Monza Grand Prix winners reads like a who's who of F1 history. Compounding this are the fans: few can match the buzz and passion of Monza's Ferraristi. There are some things that the money spent on the Tilkedromes can't buy. When F1 cars are at Monza all seems right with the world.

Monza is, and always has been, all about speed. Around three-quarters of the lap is spent on full throttle and there are only six sequences of corners, by far the fewest in F1 currently.