They don't call me 'Phil Space' for nothing

Phil: Come to think of it, they don't call me Phil Space at all. The title of my co-blogger's most recent post reminds me very much of the BBC's pre-race coverage, minus the annoying bleeping countdown thing and the annoying Eddie Jordan thing.

I have to say also that I agree entirely with him about the possibility of Ferrari, or anyone else, running a third car. Ferrari have long had the ear of F1's senior management (Max and Bernie), and presumably all the more so since 'their' man, Jean Todt, is now at the helm, but I think they're mistaken if they think they can prevail on the rulemakers to allow third cars: economies of scale notwithstanding, it goes completely against the grain of making F1 more accessible to small teams (opening the grid to new teams, awarding points down to tenth place, etc). Presumably, everyone at Ferrari knows this, and flirting with Rossi is a way of reminding Massa he needs Ferrari more than they need him.

Michelin might be back! Does anyone know any jokes about the 2005 US Grand Prix?

No race for ages, so more "filler chat" about rumours etc etc

Justin: In reference to my fellow blogger's post - di Montezemolo is a twat. He is on some ego trip if he actually thinks the FIA will ever allow 3 cars from 1 team in a race. That's stupid. If that does ever happen you'll end up with 3 Ferarri's, 3 Red Bulls and 3 McClarens taking the first 9 positions!!! Possibly the most unfair and unjust system ever. The smaller teams would never be able to afford it, and whilst the mid table teams would have another car to go for points....you'd have so many other cars potentially ahead of you from the big teams, there wouldnt be any point. F1 = teams with two cars. Thats how it should always be!

Much more important things are afoot on the F1 rumour mill. Kubica to Ferarri to replace Massa next year is one that seems to be gaining a lot of momentum.

I will also point out that Ted Kravitz stated on his BBC blog that Massa was apparently furious with Alonso for his (perfectly legal) move at the time. But, he had the foresight to report that Fernando was coming in first and to get his tyres out instead of his own. Afetr the race he was (probably forced) to issue a statement saying he was slow out of the hairpin and he had no reason to be annoyed with Fernando as it was a legal move, other people overtook there etc etc.

I'd say any friction between Alonso and Massa is all one way (Massa is nowhere near as ruthless as Alonso), as Alonso seemed pretty undisturbed by his move afterwards, stating that the press is only interested because they are teammates. Had two non teammates done the same going into the pits, it wouldnt have been as under the microscope......he is right, as Lewis did the same to Vettel and nobody talked about that.

Also I would point out the link to the full article is here....my fellow blogger sounds like a member of the press, reporting only a tiny amount of what actually transpired...naughty!

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=48269
http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=48254

Still no idea what happened at Shanghai

Phil: My house is still under a cloud of volcanic murk, or something like that, which no television signals can yet penetrate, so I've still not seen last weekend's race. I did read this morning, though, that Luca di Montezemolo is convinced that Valentino Rossi has nothing left to prove in Moto GP and that his next logical career step is Formula 1, at the wheel of a Ferrari, naturally. That's on the assumption that di Montezemolo can persuade the FIA to let him run a three-car team in the future, which, given the current cost-cutting moves, doesn't really seem feasible. He's also alluded to potential friction between his other two drivers, observing that Alonso and Massa both know that, 'they drive for Ferrari, not for themselves'!

Fantastic Race! Best of the season!

Justin: If my fellow blogger missed this race through the crapness of TV people and Virgin broadband, then he missed an absolute corker, the best of the season in my opinion.

I have no idea how to even begin to cover what happened, but let's start with a man close to my heart, Fernando Alonso. I actually emailed the f1 forum on the red button after the race and asked:

"Do you think alonso taking massa in the pit entrance is going to cause issues? Im a alonso fan and see it as alonso saying "have that" after being held up by massa in a couple of the previous races?"

Incidentally, whilst the question wasn't answered, I have made it my quest to get one email answered live on air before the season is done.

It was a cheeky move, but one quite possibly born out of frustration of having a slower team mate - he thought "I dont want to pit behind him, so have that Massa!". There wasnt much comment made on it, as the big uproar and analysis was about the Vettel Vs Hamilton pit incident, but at the time Ted Kravitz reported from the Ferrari garage saying that Massa wasnt happy at all. The way I see it though, thats the difference between a world champion and a world chump. Besides, Lewis did the same to Vettel anyway. All four were called to the stewards after the race - we await to see what punishments are handed out, if any at all.

What an action packed race! I got rather excited when Alonso made a clean start, then realised he jumped it a mile and pondered what would happen to him.

When the rain comes the Red Bull's just arent as dominant at all. It was literally hard to keep up with what the smeg was going on during this race. Pit stops and rain aplenty! Plenty of overtaking too...a real fantastic ding dong battle between Lewis and Shumi went on for a few laps.

I'll leave my esteemed colleague to pick driver of the day, but in case he didnt see the race, he has plenty to pick from. The two Renault guys deserve a mention too, driving pretty smoothly through all the chaos.

Shumi was interviewed just after the race and he seemed pretty down about his whole weekend. We were discussing him before the race in China and once again Nico Rosberg out qualified him by nearly a second before finishing a fine third (to take second in the title race) to Shumi's tenth.

Very interesting seeing Norbert Haug (spelling correct?) trying to defend Shumi to everyone after in the F1 forum. Martin Brundle started saying "I dont want to lay into Michael because I have enourmous respect for him and his abilities...BUT...." then proceeded to say what a rubbish weekend it had been. Old Norbert almost looked embaressed. Will be interesting to see where the Shumi comeback express goes next as right now its destination nowheresville.

Everyone knows I love Alonso, but even my esteemed co-blogger will probably admit whilst the heavens were on his side (a 70 second gap to Button becoming a 12 second gap in the safety car period), Alonso still had to drive his ass off to grab 4th. Could be a valuable drive come the end of the year.

You may be surprised that as yet I have not mentioned Button at all. Thinking about it, he has to be driver of the day frankly. Serene, calm, out front, beautiful, called the tyres perfectly....As Martin Brundle said, Jenson is the best guy out there at finding good grip in dampening conditions with slick tyres. He seems to be able to read the track conditions so well too.

So, anyone who thought Jenson going to McClaren was a bad idea, thats Jenson 2 - Lewis 0 on race wins this year. I'd imagine Jenson is rather getting used to the view from the top by now. 60 points, over Rosberg on 50, with Alonso and Lewis both on 49.

On to Barcelona in 3 weeks time.

Skiver of the day, note to my colleague...surely thats EJ who didnt even turn up :-).

Not much to say

Phil: I didn't watch quali as we can't get digital TV at home, and neither have we yet been connected to the internet (for technical reasons - let's just say Virgin are even slower than their cars would lead you to believe) so I'm currently blogging in a private corner in the library, behind the Mills and Boon naff romantic novels. So I have only just learned that it's an all Red Bull front row with Vettel on pole, but I can't say I'm surprised. In my view Vettel is showing far and away the most potential of any driver in the field, thus far this season. The question on everyone's lips is whether Adrian Newey's car can prove as consistently reliable as it is consistently fast. Speaking of the car, not only does Vettel use the word 'baby' too much, he also gives his cars retro soft porn names: this year's apparently is 'Luscious Liz'.

Further down the grid, Rosberg in fourth has once again outqualified his illustrious teammate. When Schumacher says that his comeback is going according to plan, it really rather depends what the plan is. If it's to drive some more grands prix and have a nice time, then he's probably right. Kimi Raikkonen would probably say his debut WRC season is also going to plan, although I've no idea how he is actually getting on (there are, however, certainly more opportunities for unscheduled comfort breaks in rallying). But back to Schumi. If, as he also contends, he is still in the running for the title, being tenth in the world championship standings and ninth on the grid in China, then I for one would dispute that. His comeback is still going better than Nigel Mansell's, who had a tenth and a DNF after the third race in 1995 (Schumi has a sixth, a tenth and a DNF), but that's hardly a benchmark. I would also agree with my co-blogger that the Mercedes isn't a championship-winning car - it's certainly no better than the fourth best car on the grid.

If anyone's bothered, a visit to Wikipedia reveals that Raikkonen was eighth in the Jordan Rally two weeks ago, which gives him four points in the drivers' championship. The WRC looks every bit as predictable as F1 was in Schumi's heyday, with Sébastien Loeb still thrashing the pants off everyone.

It could be a year for champions called Sebastian. And for Luscious Liz.

China Quali

Justin: Odd, throughout quali Vettel didn't look as fast as Webber and Hamilton was caning Button. When it mattered though Button went faster than Hamilton and squeezed ahead of him. Vettel went fastest in Q3, when he had been 6th or there abouts in Q1 and Q2. The Red Bull's look like they are starting to dominate, with Webber second and Fernando third. Again, where was Shumi compared to Rosberg?! If it doesnt get any better for the German, I wouldn't bet against him walking away from F1 sooner or later. True he doesnt give up, but I bet he would find it a strain to stay motivated trundling around in 8th. I also have to mention Alonso making Massa look very slow once again :-). I managed to get up at 6 50am, missing the pre-amble but making it in time for Quali. Oh and Vettel uses the word "baby" waaaaayyyy too much.

Looking towards the next race in China

Justin: Better late than never I guess. My Co-blogger left it to me to talk about Alonso's engine blowing at the end of the race in Sepang. What can I say? I was so traumatised I just could not face blogging about it. Talk about some fun racing though! Twice he overtook only for Button to re-pass him straight away. Nail biting stuff there!

It's too late in the day for me to go over what happened in Malaysia, particularly as my co-blogger did such a splendid job.

Looking towards China, forget the title race for a moment. I'd say the person with perhaps the most riding on this one is none other than Shumi himself.

Interestingly he came on record recently saying he was happy with his comeback thus far.

This article from The Observer comments about his comeback thus far - http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/apr/11/michael-schumacher-mercedes-formula-one

Personally, I don't think the Mercedes is a winning car so he won't win races just yet. But surely the arguement that it isn't a winning car doesnt mean Michael should be coming in lower than 6th in each race, usually miles behind his team mate.

I'm sure Shumi will be stung by being pigeon holed with Petrov as being the only two people on the grid to be out qualified at every race thus far by their respective team mates!

Ok, its only one more race, the 4th on his comeback trail, but I'd have thought he'd like to start going forwards as opposed to backwards sooner rather than later.

Race starts at 8am on the 18th, so coverage starts at 7am I think. Quali is on an hour or so earlier on the Saturday so it's two early ones. Bah! The things we do for F1 eh.

The German renaissance

Phil: I'm going to leave Alonso's penultimate lap engine blowout to my co-blogger, as I know it's a subject dear to his heart. Instead I'm going to congratulate Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Red Bull on their 1-2 at Sepang. The title race is tight, very tight, as I'll explain, but if Adrian Newey's car can give Vettel reliability as well as speed, I think he has to be the favourite.

Alonso's early exit means that he has had to concede the lead of the world title chase to his teammate Felipe Massa, who now leads with 39 points. Alonso and Vettel follow on 37 points, then Button and Rosberg on 35 points. Four points separate the top five drivers. What's more, the new points system was designed to ensure drivers have to win races to win the title. Three drivers have won the first three races of this season, but the man at the head of the title race isn't one of them. Consistency is still the most important thing where the world title is concerned.

Something else that's noteworthy. A quarter of the field, or four of the top 10 in the drivers' title chase, are German. When Michael Schumacher drove his first race in 1991 he was the only one. Sebastian Vettel, born in 1987, was only four years old at the time. My point is that he, Rosberg, Sutil and the rest are the Schumacher generation: the young German kids who grew up with him as a motor racing role model (those of us with slightly longer memories realise that he might not be altogether the best role model for an aspiring young driver to have).

All that remains is for me to name my Skiver of the Day, which dubious honour today goes to BBC1, for shunting the coverage to BBC2 mid-race to make way for some God-bothering. Aren't Sundays sacred any more?

Can Webber deliver?

Phil: To set the record straight, I'm not sure we've ever said Webber looks good. We've said he's an underrated talent, a talent as yet unrewarded with significant results, but never that he looks good. Well, he doesn't do it for me anyway.

I really don't know what went wrong with Hamilton, Alonso and Massa today. After last year's washout at Sepang, McLaren and Ferrari must have been aware of the possibility of a wet qualifying session. That they didn't take the opportunity to get a lap in at the beginning of Q1 before the rain started properly like everyone else, except Lucas di Grassi whose Virgin was in bits, shows at best blissful ignorance and at worst supreme arrogance. The effective demise of both McLarens and both Ferraris meant that Kovalainen could put the Lotus as high as 15th, ahead of three of the four world champions on the grid. Regrettably, I found myself agreeing with Eddie Jordan that the big cheeses could and should have done much better.

Speaking of which, perhaps Eddie will find himself a shirt that's better suited to the tropical climate tomorrow. It's lucky we weren't watching in smellyvision.

Seriously, for a minute, well done to Red Bull on their third consecutive pole - let's see if they can convert it into a race win tomorrow. A pat on the back also to Nico Hulkenberg, or Hülkenberg to any fellow Germanists, who qualified fifth in only his third grand prix.

A grid as scrambled as this one promises an exciting race tomorrow and further rain will only serve to spice things up. Can the big boys cut through the field fast enough to influence the result? Can the Red Bulls capitalise on their advantage? How will the rain and the possibility of a safety car affect tyres and strategies? Might we see a maiden win for Rosberg, or even Sutil? Set your alarm clocks for 9am tomorrow to find out.

Webber Inspired!

Justin: My co-blogger cannot get onto the internet until Tuesday, so its up to me to carry the team over the next few days. I myself though risk not being able to do a post race blog tomorrow as I'm off to Brighton. Anyway....

We have ranted and raved about Webber looking good before, but what an inspired choice of tyres for the top ten quali shootout! Pole position, surely his race to lose?! Come on Mark! This is where your title charge begins mate.

Alonso, Hamilton, Massa and Button have it all to do from the back of the grid - Hamilton didnt blame crap team tactics again....but they were crap tactics! Still, if it rains, or even if not, it should be a hell of a race with those guys coming through the field.

Second to fith places are all occupied by Germans and not one of them is named Michael Schumacher! You have to laugh :-).

Good quali from both Williams drivers in 5th and 7th.

Malaysia first practice

Justin: I've been reading a varied amount of opinions from the public about Lewis Hamilton since Australia. Some support him, some don't. One in particular that stood out for me was a) he got himself in trouble outside the race b) he cocked up qualifying and c) he then lambasted his team for his tactics, which wouldnt have been an issue had he not done point B - mechanics and engineers remember these things, especially when you have one of the nicest most charming fella's in F1 across the other side of the garage.

Anyway, Hamilton is a dickhead :-).

Unfortunately he is top of the timesheets in practice 1 for Sepang. No sign of rain in a warm and humid session. Vettel and Button were there or there abouts. Rosberg third, ahead of Shumi in 5th. Alonso 7th, Massa way down the field....but apparently Ferarri are running very heavy race pace fuel loads and Alonso is very happy with his car. Sounds good for the race, possibly not so much the rest of the field.