A look back at Schumacher's comeback year

August 2009. A sunny Budapest afternoon. Time is up in Q2, drivers are trying to improve on their final laps to secure a place in the top 10. Felipe Massa is looking good to make it and is cruising back to the pits. He doesn't make it. He's in the barriers. The Brazilian's life threatening accident left a temporary vacancy at Ferrari and would trigger a German's emotions. Michael Schumacher had retired at the end of 2006 and had always insisted he would not return but he had stayed close to the sport and in Ferrari's hour of need as well as covering for his good friend, he decided to return and take Massa's seat. A neck injury meant this was quickly aborted. The seven times world champion had allowed emotion to overtake rational thinking. The fire was burning but where could he go? Ferrari was his stable and in Fernando Alonso they had a new horse, the one which had seen Schumacher off in his final year.

Mercedes have taken a massive interest in Formula 1. From backing McLaren to then supplying other teams with engines, its been a big investment by the company. They wanted to take that extra step though and have full ownership of their own team. McLaren was not feasible, the team itself had grown too much and established its own brand and image. Talks began with Brawn. It made sense, Ross Brawn had bought the team over from Honda and having a solid company like Mercedes buying the team would give it security. For Mercedes, it meant having a team that was a championship winning one and had the facilities in place to compete with the best.



What this meant was that a 20 year old promise could be fulfilled. Schumacher had raced for Mercedes in sportscars before his Formula 1 and indeed it was Mercedes who helped financially in getting the German his debut in the Jordan at Spa. The hope between the parties was that 1 day, Schumacher would drive a Mercedes in the pinnacle of motorsport. Of course history shows that Schumacher would become the Italian hero as he took 5 consecutive world titles for Ferrari and most of his success would come with them. All of a sudden, the talk began. Eddie Jordan, the man who received that payment to give Schumacher his opportunity, was claiming that talks were underway. Jenson Button drifted away from the team and joined McLaren. There was an opening and it was filled by the man, the legend, the hero, the enemy, the driver who had dominated the sport and broke all the records. Schumacher was back.

Much was expected from Schumacher. Personally i felt he could get podiums and even a race win but wouldn't be able to challenge for the title. Looking back, those predictions well over optimistic though they were based on Mercedes having a front running car, something which the 2011 model never was. Most have labelled the German's season as a poor one and that coming back was a mistake. However i want to look back at this season with some perspective. In a way, this story has been a fascinating case study in the same way Lance Armstrong returning to cycling was. Here was a man who had been out of the sport for over 3 years. Yes, he had done the odd test and taken part in things like the race of champions but to actually throw himself back into the full time job of a F1 driver was a massive challenge. So many changes had taken place during his 'retirement' and so to actually be able to come back and run at a competitive pace would be a feat in itself.



Mid March in Sakhir, Bahrain and the comeback begins. Schumacher rolls in 6th in an uneventful race. He's struggling with the understeer in his car, the Mercedes front end is not biting and the narrower Bridgestones are not helping. He is able to hold to hold off Jenson Button behind due to the twisty nature of the circuit. Amidst all the hype, you could say its a low key return but in the what was probably the 3rd or 4th best car, it is a very respectable result 41 months after his last grand prix. A damaged car in Australia would have to carried through the Asian races in Malaysia and China and left him prey to several cars in Shanghai. Meanwhile his young compatriot Nico Rosberg was shining, taking a podium in Sepang and leading for a while in China before coming in 3rd.

The return to Europe would yield more happiness for Schumacher with a couple of 4th place finishes in Spain and Turkey. These were punctured by the controversial penalty in Monte Carlo but this was more down to mis information from the pitwall. What is important here is that he maximised his car in getting those 4th places, he was taking on world champions like Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso and beating them on track. How many drivers could take so long out of the sport and actually come back at 41 years old and be able to get in the mix like this? Niki Lauda came back with great success and Nigel Mansell to a lesser extent but i think most would struggle to rediscover the pace needed in such a competitive environment.



What was disappointing about Schumacher's driving this year was the way he battled wheel to wheel with several drivers. To me, he was sometimes naughty and dangerous with some of his on track tactics. In Montreal he squeezed Robert Kubica onto the grass and then crudely moved across into Felipe Massa's braking zone, leaving his former team mate with a broken front wing. There's nothing wrong with racing hard but he was pushing the limits too much. Things came to a head in Budapest when Rubens Barrichello was chasing down the Mercedes on fresh rubber and as he came down the inside, from himself squeezed towards the pitwall and then onto the grass. The reaction in the paddock was one of outrage and Schumacher found himself penalised. I actually felt there was another poor piece of driving from the German this season which went relatively unnoted. In Singapore, having been passed and squeezed wide by Nick Heidfeld the German seem to have the red mist descend on him and as they headed down Raffles Boulevard he launched his car down the inside, coming nowhere near getting slowed down for the corner. The Sauber was shoved into the barriers and Schumacher limped back to the pits with a damaged front wing. A reckless move borne out of anger and frustration it seem.

Japan and Korea were positive races for Schumacher. Points scored and overtakes on the likes of Barrichello and Kubica seem to silence the talk of him walking away from F1 at the end of the season. The season would finish with a scare though as a lap 1 spin in Abu Dhabi seen him facing the wrong way on the track and a huge hit from Vitantonio Liuzzi thankfully missed the German's head by inches. A reminder that the sport is dangerous and can never be totally safe.



So overall i can understand why this season is classed as a disappointment for Michael Schumacher. When somebody has won 91 races, 7 titles and been a dominant force in the sport for so many years, seeing him somewhere other than the front is an unusual sight. However remember the circumstances, to return after missing 3 seasons and be able to compete at a reasonable level may not be all his fans hoped for but it is still a very impressive display and shows how good the man is. Where he did suffer at times was going into battle on track with some drivers. Can he do more in 2011? Well, Mercedes themselves need to improve. Operations need to be restored to the standards of early on in 2009 and Ross Brawn has promised that restructuring will happen. KERS should be a strong suit for the team. Schumacher is up against a strong grid, has a team mate on the up in Nico Rosberg and needs better machinery but you never know, the great German may yet pull off a 92nd Grand Prix win in the future.

Images courtesy of www.mercedes-gp.com

Webber seizes opportunity on day of milestones

A fifth of the way in to today's 25th Hungarian Grand Prix and things were looking set for a relatively calm race. Sebastian Vettel had maintained the lead from pole position and had a twelve second lead. Fernando Alonso was second and Mark Webber was biding his time in third. Then a piece of debris on turn 11 transformed things. The safety car was deployed and the pit crews were on the move.

Vettel made a late entry in whilst team mate Webber elected to stay out. Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a slight delay for Felipe Massa to take 4th but chaos would then begin to ensue. Nico Rosberg didn't have his right rear tyre attached properly and it rolled through the Sauber box before being launched 20 feet, almost into the spectator area above the pits before hitting a Williams mechanic. He was taken to the medical centre but returned later and even took part in Rubens Barrichello's pitstop later in the race! Meanwhile Renault released Robert Kubica as Adrian Sutil was pulling into the next box and the pair collided. The Pole received a stop/go penalty and retired soon after. Both Mercedes and Renault were fined $50,000.

Webber now led from Vettel but the German was having some radio issues and seemed to allow his focus to drop. He didn't stay close to Webber during the safety car period and when the restart was happening Vettel appeared unaware and claimed afterward that he had no radio message alerting him and didn't see the lights go out on the safety car. His lack of awareness and Webber's eagerness to get a gap pulled to jump Alonso meant he was over 100 metres behind. Cars must stay within 10 car lengths and Vettel soon had a drive through. He served it whilst gesturing furiously, confused as to why he had been penalised. He lost a position to Alonso but was still 3rd.

The race for victory was now on. Webber had been off the pace through Friday and Saturday, not entirely happy with his car and a bit scrappy. The opportunity to take a 4th win of the season enlivened the Australian and he put in a stunning stint of driving, opening up a 22 second gap to pit and maintain a lead. He had took full advantage of the window of opportunity presented to him. Vettel was right behind Alonso but still a bit frustrated. Alonso was excellent, consistent and navigated the traffic superbly.

Lewis Hamilton meanwhile was out of the race after losing drive. He'll hope that he won't need a gearbox change for Spa or else he'll face a 5 place grid drop. The remaining points scorers were well behind but it was excellent results for Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg in 5th and 6th. Sauber celebrated their 300th grand prix with a double points finish. Pedro de la Rosa got off the mark this season with 7th whilst Kamui Kobayashi came from the back row to finish 9th behind Jenson Button who recovered from a poor start. He was helped by an early stop before the safety car was deployed.

Rubens Barrichello was 10th after a different strategy. The Brazilian ran long on the hard tyre, not pitting until the last 15 laps. He emerged 11th behind former team mate Michael Schumacher. He set after the Mercedes on his fresh rubber and had a couple of close attempts. With 5 laps left he was finally close enough. Schumacher moved right but Barrichello went down the inside towards turn 1. Schumacher kept squeezing and shoved Barrichello within centimetres of the concrete wall. The Brazilian bravely kept his foot in and even took to the grass to make the move stick. Schumacher was widely criticised but the German defended his actions. The stewards disagreed and Schumacher has been given a 10 place grid drop for Belgium in 4 weeks.

Webber's 6th career win in his 150th race gives him the championship lead. Fernando Alonso remains 5th but is within 20 points. It is simply incredibly close. Red Bull celebrated their 100th grand prix with a 12th win and now lead the constructors championship. They will be frustrated that their massive car advantage was not turned into a 1-2. This advantage could be cut in Spa however as the FIA are to increase the loads that are applied in front wing tests. This may mean that Red Bull will have to make alterations to their front wing at the loss of performance.

Adrian Newey will be hard at work to get round this. The teams will have to take an enforced two week break though at some stage in the month. Belgium will offer a different challenge and McLaren will be desperate to turnaround their fortunes after a lacklustre weekend. Red Bull are back on top but Alonso is on the prowl. It's a long break for the fans but the championship is set up beautifully for a sensational finale.

Vettel dominates as rookies shine

Red Bull were in their own battle for pole position today and Sebastian Vettel was supreme. He took pole position with ease with Mark Webber 4 tenths down in 2nd. The Australian was still three quarters of a second clear of Fernando Alonso. I think a good way of expressing the dominance Red Bull had is the reaction of BBC commentator during Q2 when he realised that Webber was upshifting through the challenging turn 11 whereas everybody else was downshifting. Felipe Massa was 4th and championship leader Lewis Hamilton was 5th. It was not so great for his team mate Jenson Button who went out in Q2 and will start 11th. He complained that he couldn't find a good balance in his car.

Pedro de la Rosa had a brilliant session, coming 8th on a twisty track with the longest wheelbase on the grid was a great effort from the Spaniard who had a personal best result of 2nd here in 2006. It was not such a good day for Kamui Kobayashi. He has showed glimpses of brilliance this season but a third Q1 exit of the season was not one of them. He was held up by Bruuno Senna on his last lap. Two other rookies though put in very impressive performances. Vitaly Petrov outqualified Robert Kubica as the two Eastern European drivers filled the 4th row. What the Russian nears to do is translate this excellent Saturday into good points tomorrow. Failure to do so puts his seat for 2011 in more jeopardy. Nico Hulkenberg pulled out a late flyer to make Q3 and qualify 10th, two places ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

McLaren and Mercedes asked for a clarification on the flexible front wings on the Red Bull and Ferrari cars after qualifying and the FIA have been examining them. They could deem them illegal but this is unlikely. What may happen is the tests applied to the wings are altered so that any loopholes being exposed are closed off. More information may emerge in the morning. The key really for the Red Bull drivers is the start. Vettel will want a smooth getaway after poor starts at Silverstone and Hockenheim. Webber will be concerned that on the dirty side of the grid he could be under threat from Alonso. If they can maintain a 1-2 then it should be comfortable for them. Their race pace isn't at the same level as their qualifying pace but they'll have more than enough to win. The Hungaroring can bite though, 70 laps int he heat could yet yield some unexpected drama. Just ask Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa from 2008. Race start is at 1pm BST

Vettel delivers the goods at the docks

Red Bull restored the Saturday order in the docks of Valencia this afternoon as Sebastian Vettel took his 4th pole position of the 2010 season. Much of the weekend running has seen the spotlight on what others were doing to bring themselves up to the pace of the RB6 but in what was an extremely close qualifying on a track that takes over 95 seconds to lap, it was the Austrian team that produced when it counts as Mark Webber made it a 1-2. Lewis Hamilton can count himself a tad fortunate to be third after a massive slide under braking cost him the chance to improve on his final lap. His rivals couldn't take advantage though. Stefano Domencali felt Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa did not get the perfect lap in but the Spaniard said he had made no mistakes. The local favourite looked disapponted afterwards, he was probably hoping for more from his revised car.

Image courtesy of www.mclaren.com

Robert Kubica was 6th for Renault. He was a dark horse for the front rows of the grid after strong practice form but couldn't quite repeat his Monaco performance on the Spanish streets. He remarked that the car was working better on the hard tyres but that he opted for the softer rubber in Q3 as it was a better strategic option for the race. World champion Jenson Button was 7th after locking up coming into the final corner. Williams had an impressive showing, getting both cars into Q3 for the first time since Malaysia. Both drivers set identical times but it was Nico Hulkenberg who took 8th on virtue of setting his time first. The German's performance is even more impressive when you consider that he could not run the F-Duct on his car as his longer legs made it awkward to operate. Rubens Barrichello also had problems adjusting the brake balance as his knee was getting in the way. Vitaly Petrov had a solid afternoon, finishing 10th.

Image courtesy of www.renaultf1.com

Not all the Germans were having a good day. Mercedes qualifying efforts were finished by Q2 with Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher 12th and 15th. Schumacher needed a late lap to get into Q2 and had steering issues which may have hindered him. Rosberg has scored in both his visits to Valencia and even topped free practice 1. The big question is why the team have fallen behind despite new updates to the car. There seems to be fundamental issues that are hard to overcome and making it difficult to get the car competing at the front. The car is no disaster, it has scored podiums in the hands of Rosberg but is a major disappointment after the championship winning car of 2009. This years car seems a revoluion though, certainly on the outside with the Red Bull dip nose. Weight distribution and the narrow front tyres were areas which caught the team out and changes in Barcelona helped but have not totally recitfied the situation and Mercedes may now decide to shift focus to 2011 where the return of KERS could be a boost to them.

Image courtesy of www.mercedes-gp.com

It was also a disappointment for Force India, especially after confidence that they had got their switchable rear wing working to it's full potential. Kamui Kobayashi was the main Q1 casualty for the second qualifying in a row. In the new team battle, Lotus, who are conversely celebrating 500 races, were top but it was Jarno Trulli who led the charge. The Italian declared himself happy with his new chassis. It was also a good day for Lucas Di Grassi who outqualified Timo Glock for the first time. The German lost 6 tenths after going wide at the final corner. The 107% rule is returning for 2011 but if implemented today would have seen no drivers failing to make the race.

Image courtesy of www.forceindiaf1.com

So an exciting qualifying but perhaps a calmer race in store. The start and pitstops will likely influence the order. Hamilton will fancy taking advantage of the clean inside line to take Webber who may need to be on the defensive. If he can get between the Red Bull's then he will have a chnace of jumping Vettel at the stops. There was 11 cars out in the first 4 corners in the GP2 race earlier but expect the F1 men to be better behaved. Most drivers are likely to 1 stop and the soft tyre are holding up ok so the key will be getting back out into clear space to maximise pace on the out lap. The Valencia pitlane is the shortest on the calendar so this opportunity may present itself early on to the leaders. It might lack the action of Canada but it should be another close battle in this tight championship. The race starts at 1pm BST and UK viewers should note that the BBC race coverage is on BBC2. Check my twitter page for race updates and back here for post race analysis.

Hamilton takes pole with skill and luck

A thrilling qualifying session in Montreal seen Lewis Hamilton break the Red Bull strangehold and take pole position. His last gasp effort beat off the team who had taken all the previous poles this year as well as Fernando Alonso. However the Briton was told to stop on his in lap as he was running out of fuel and needed a litre left in the car so the stewards would have enough for a sample. Since Malaysia 2008 where Hamilton was 1 of a numer of cars to drive extremely slowly back to the pits to conserve fuel, there is a time laid down in the Friday briefing which the drivers must be within so nobody impedes other drivers or back in the days of carrying race fuel saved more fuel than their competitors. Drivers have been slower than this time in the past but got away with a reprimand and that is what Hamilton got along with a $10,000 fine. A lot of people in the paddock are frustrated with this because Hamilton effectively gained an advanatge by setting a lap on less fuel than other cars, hence being able to go quicker. I'm pretty sure this was not planned by McLaren. Hamilton did one flying lap on the soft tyres in his first run and seem set to do the same in run 2 but didn't improve. He crossed the line with seconds to spare

and continued on to do the lap which leaves him at the front for the start tomorrow.

Image courtesy of www.mclaren.com

They key thing tomorrow is the tyres. We have the exciting prospect of splits in the tyre choices at the front with the potential for multiple stop strategies. Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel will head to turn 1 on the harder compound tyres along with Robert Kubica in 8th. They could run for over half the race while the rest of the top ten may hit trouble inside the first ten laps. However the trio will have to face the soft tyre at some stage unless rain intervenes, which seems unlikely at the preesent time. Unless the track really ramps up a 2 stopper seems likely for the majority of the field. Somebody who trys to hang on with worn tyres will likely be a sitting duck out of the hairpin onto the back straight. Safety car deployments could dictate the timing of stops as even if pitting is not in the ideal window, retaining track position will be more important. Red Bull really should get it early on but then they need the gap to make it work and hang on at the end on the soft tyre. They need as short a stint as possible on those. A Saftey car could also mean the Red Bull's having to stack in the pits so Vettel will want to get ahead though without the consequences of Turkey.

I posted earlier in the week about Vitantonio Liuzzi's need to get a good result this weekend and he is well on his way after a brilliant 6th for Force India who again showed their liking for the low downforce tracks. The Italian had a new chassis and the post qualifying press release certainly showed the teams pleasure at Liuzzi finding the speed to get a career best Saturday result. Team mate Adrian Sutil was 9th. His fellow countrymen at Mercedes at an awful Saturday. Nico Rosberg was only tenth after little running in the morning with a clutch issue while Michael Schumacher was a dismal 13th. The 7 time world champion blamed a lack of grip for his surprising Q2 exit. Kamui Kobayashi was the main Q1 casualty, way off making it through and only beating Heikki Kovalainen by 2 tenths as the Finn again excelled in the Lotus.

Image courtesy of www.forceindiaf1.com

So the rain threat may be low but the Canadian Grand Prix doesn't need rain to provide a good show. Lewis Hmailton on pole, 2 Red Bull's behind who have no qualms about racing each other, Fernando Alonso looking to make the podium and Jenson Button who has alway proved this season to be the calm man amongst F1's most stormy races. It's going to be unpredictable, we could have pitstops on lap 1, people hanging on at the end and perhaps going into the now famous fuel saving mode and if a 3rd Mercedes appears? Well that'll just bunch them all up again. Lovely

Schumacher's pass: Legal or not?

The major talking point to arise from Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix was an incident right at the final corner of the final lap when Michael Schumacher dived up the inisde of Fernando Alonso to take 6th position. This was after the safety car had been deployed but pulled in on the final lap. 3 hours after the race the stewards decided to penalise the German 20 seconds, dropping him out of the points.

The fact that the decision took that long is an indicator in itself of how difficult interpreting the regulations are and the case that both sides had. Lets look at the key regulations involved.

40) SAFETY CAR
40.4 When the order is given to deploy the safety car the message "SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED" will be displayed on the timing monitors and all marshal's posts will display waved yellow flags and "SC" boards for the duration of the intervention.

40.11 When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to call in the safety car the message "SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP" will be displayed on the timing monitors and the car's orange lights will be extinguished This will be the signal to the teams and drivers that it will be entering the pit lane at the end of that lap.

As the safety car is approaching the pit entry the yellow flags and SC boards will be withdrawn and replaced by waved green flags with green lights at the Line. These will be displayed until the last car crosses the Line.

40.13 If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.

This season, racing can begin from the first safety car line which is usually around the pit entry area. Ferrari, as well as the other teams active in the race, did not think however that there would be overtaking on the last lap as they believed that 40.13 was in effect. There interpretation of the rules were that as the safety car had began the final lap on track, this meant that 40.13 was now in effect. Ross Brawn felt that because the safety car had been called in, that meant that the race was back on from the first safety car line to the finish.



The other issue in this is the green flags that were waving as well as the electronic boards flashing green after the first safety car line. These are usually used to indicate the track is clear and prohibitions under previous yellow flags are now gone. If 40.13 was in force, as the stewards decided it was, should we have had yellow flags and SC boards out until the end of the race. This was the case when the 2009 Australain Grand Prix finished under similiar conditions. However in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, green flags are waving after the safety car pulls in but before the finish line which used to be the point where racing resumed so there is certainly an area of inconsistency. An important point however is that Schumacher did not suddenly start racing when he saw the green flags. He was already on the lookout for any opportunities before they came into play.

This is something i've found hard to call myself. At the time of watching the race I didn't even know about 40.13 and felt that Schumacher's overtake was legit. I can see how Ross Brawn is seing the situation in terms of the safety car being pulled in. I believe that this was just a procedural move by Race Control. The 40.13 article really can only apply if the safety car starts the final lap as it will never pull off the track at halfway, it will always pull off at the pit entry. It could have been a bit clearer and Schumacher was unfortunate to lose all his points. However i feel article 40.13 intercedes against the other key articles and therefore no overtaking should be allowed and the decision to penalise Schuamcher was correct. Hopefully there will now be at least more clarity to the issue surrounding safety car restarts.

There was inconsistency though. If safety car conditions applied then I feel we should have remained with yellow flags and safety car boards. We could have had a message from race control saying no overtaking to the line but they would argue its the responsibilty of the teams to know the regualtions. Mercedes are appealing the decision but can't appeal the actual penalty. Through all of this, Alonso and Schumacher had good drives. The German has improved at the European races. For Alonso, he is still firmly in the championship hunt

Webber wins amongst Monaco mess

Mark Webber continued his dominant streak in Formula 1, absolutely dominating the Monaco Grand Prix. He smashed the opposition, including team mate Sebastian Vettel, with searing pace and composure through the midst of 4 safety car periods. There was smashing of a different kind down the field with Williams pair Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barichello suffering heavy crashes while Jarno Trulli took a ride on Karun Chandok with less than 4 laps to go. The 3rd of 4 safety car periods was a brief affair after a drain cover was apparently loose at turn 3 but this appeared to be a false alarm. Drain covers had caused delays during practice last year. Robert Kubica took a second podium for Renault, recovering from a poor start where he was passed by Vettel to fend off Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton.

They both had quiet races but it was rather more eventful for Fernando Alonso. He started from the pitlane on soft tyres but pitted on lap 1 after the safety car was deployed for Hulkenbergs crash, the German crashing in the tunnel after a front wing mounting failure. Alonso, now on hard tyres, began his charge clearing Chandhok before overcoming a robust rearguard action from Lucas Di Grassi. Moves out of the tunnel on Trulli, Glock and Kovalainen followed. The pitstops were in full swing now, Schumacher jumping Barichello who had passed both Mercedes at turn 1. When it all shook out, Alonso was 6th, brilliantly making the strategy work to be only 2 places behind Massa. The top ten was settled but Webber's pace at the front was to be pegged by constant safety cars.

Barichello suffered a failure on his left rear tyre going up the hill to Casino Square. As the Brazilian came to a halt in the middle of the track, he proceeded to chuck his steering wheel out on the track. It bounced onto the racing line and Karun Chandhok swept it up in his HRT. He carried it through until the tunnel where it bounced out. Bruno Senna in the other HRT then ran it over! It was a very silly thing for Barichello to do. He defended himself on twitter, saying emotions were high after his crash but really it was unneccessary and potentially dangerous. Another safety car followed for the drain cover issue and things were set again.

Webber started to back off and Vettel was pushing to catch but with 4 laps to go, he still had 4 seconds in hand but was approaching the battle for 14th between Chandhok and Trulli. The Italian had been on the Indians tail for a long time and made a lunge into Rascasse which proved dramatically unsuccessful as he ended up on top of the HRT. Webber narrowly avoided this but the gap was down to 1.5 seconds. The incident was initially being dealt with under yellows but eventually Bernd Maylander was called upon.

So we entered the final lap still under safety car conditions. Race Control said that the safety car would pit at the end of the lap. At the time, i felt that you could still overtake after the safety car line, which is a new rule for this year. As Alonso exited Rascasse he got a slide on and Michael Schumacher got alongside and passed into the final corner. For Mercedes a fair move but Ferrari disagreed. The steward's sided with Ferrari and gave Schumacher a 20 second penalty, putting him out of the points and giving Sebastien Buemi a point. Conspiracy theorists will have a field day with the fact Damon Hill was involved in the decision and its something i will try and analyse tomorrow. It's an issue which has certainly divided opinion.

I said Webber needed consistency to have a championship chance and he has stepped uop his game. Sebastian Vettel hasn't been near him these past 2 weekends and the battle is now royally on. Another Alonso recovery drive keeps him in the hunt but things have turned against McLaren, if not at crisis point. Jenson Button had a poor start and then had an enine failure after a bung was left in a radiator. An unexpected mistake from a team like McLaren. Lewis Hamilton had brake issues and ran a conservative pace in the second half of the race. Onto Turkey in 2 weeks for round 7. A mix of slow and fast corners as well as the famed turn 8. Red Bull are the team on top of both championships and they have more upgrades for Istanbul. A frightening prospect.

Red Bull rule again as Mercedes mess up

Mark Webber produced a stunning lap to take Red Bull's 6th consecutive pole position of the season. The RB6's domination of qualifying hasn't been seen since Damon Hill, a steward this weekend, and Jaques Villeneuve in 1996 for Williams. Robert Kubica was P1 for most of Q3 after hustling his car for all its worth, running the barriers close to take a superb second ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Team mate Vitaly Petrov got too close, bashing the armco at Ste Devote and he will start 14th. Felipe Massa was 4th which was disappointing after hopes of making the front row. The Brazilian was also fortunate to escape punishment after blocking Jenson Button in Q3 though he claimed he was backed up as well. Fernando Alonso didn't even take part in the session after badly damaging his car in practice. He locked up at Massenet and hit the barrier at 90km/h. He will start from the pitlane tomorrow.

Lewis Hamilton seem content with 5th but Jenson Button struggled, scraping through Q2 and only managing 8th. The top ten will all start on the soft compound but Button seem to rue not going for the harder compound which would have allowed him to run a long first stint. Button seemed to be overruled by his engineer on this decision. Mercedes German duo split the McLarens but it was a case of an opprtunity missed for the Silver Arrows. Rosberg was fuming after the session, blaming traffic and mistakes for not repeating his Q2 performance when he went quickest. Schumacher meanwhile said that he was held up by 1 car which was Rosberg's! Ross Brawn admitted that the team had messed up and a lack of communication was to blame for Schumacher being blocked. Vitantonio Liuzzi produced a much needed strong showing, joining Rubens Barichello in the top ten.

The much vaunted traffic problems did not come to that much after all the talk about the potential issues. Alonso's crash (see below) lessened the possibility of someone becoming a major scalp though Heikki Kovalainen tryed his best, lapping strongly and becoming the first team mate to beat Jarno Trulli in Monaco qualifying. The Finn had 2 spins as well in pursuit of Q2 but avoided the barriers. The Virgin's and HRT'S are in 20th to 23rd but they will have the prancing horse of Alonso in their mirrors early on. Perhaps a chance to gain some TV coverage like Enrique Bernoldi did in the Arrows aginst David Coulthard in 2001.

The grid is an intriguing one and Kubica will hope he doesn't suffer the fate of Kimi Raikkonen in the last 2 seasons in dropping to third at the start. Can Button recover a poor qualifying session and use his capability of tyre conservation to move up the order? We also can look forward to seeing what Alonso can manage from last place. The tyres will be key with most drivers having put their tyres through 4 laps already. The super soft tyres grained badly inside the opening 10 laps last season. This years tyres are harder but coping with that, along with getting out in clear space will be vital to success. A safety car deployment could also throw a curveball in the mix. If we have one around the 10 lap mark, the top ten may pit and try and run to the end. Depending on the field spread, some of the midfield could get amongst the front runners and be able to run long into the race. Though it has to be mentioned that the marshalls have been superb this weekend and despite numerous incidents, there has been no stoppages in any of the sessions. It will be a long afternoon in Monte Carlo but hopefully an exciting one. The Monaco Grand Prix starts at 1pm BST. Follow me on Twitter for my thoughts during the race with my views later on the blog. Enjoy the race

The State of Play after Round 4 (Part 1)

A 3 week break may not be welcomed by F1 fans but it will certainly be appreciated by the teams, many of whom have not been home since before Bahrain and after the disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud. The Spanish Grand Prix has become a traditional key moment in the season where we see teams upgrade their cars and try and move up the order. So who's looking good and who is in danger? Let's analyse...

Red Bull - The RB6 has generally been the fastest car so far this season. 6 front row starts have only been converted into 2 podiums however, and Red Bull may rue not taking advantage of this pace later in the season. Reliabilty failures and poor decision making on the pitwall have cost the team many points. In clean air, the car is brilliant but the lack of straightline speed has made it difficult for Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to race in the pack. Introducing a F-Duct could help this, but with the chassis now homologated it is tricky to implement to the same extent as McLaren have done. The team put a lot of resources into the 2009 campaign and they'll push hard again but the pressure will be on. Perhaps a dull Barcelona weekend is what they require.

McLaren - Fresh from a 1-2 in Shanghai, McLaren will be thrilled to be topping both championships. Martin Whitmarsh is demanding more from his troops at Woking but to have been slightly off the pace and have acheived the results they have will be encouraging. The resources Mclaren have should mean that they will, like last season, be strong in the development race. Of course in 2009 McLaren were quite a bit behind and thus had more potential to gain but nevertheless i'm explaining the team to at least be in the mix for pole at Barcelona. The F-Duct is providing a key advantage in allowing Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button to overtake and this could perhaps help down the long straight at the Circuit de Catalunya. Lewis Hamilton was strong in China but overdid the tyres on his outlap in Q3 and this hindered him in taking on the Red Bull's so he will hope for a solution to this in the coming rounds.

Ferrari - The prancing horse has had a mixed start to the season, with the high of a 1-2 in Bahrain with the lows of engine failures and Q1 elimination in Malaysia. Fernando Alonso has been having eventful races but seem content for the time being to at least be a geniune championship contender again. Felipe Massa has been outpaced at times but has a decent start considering his past record at tracks like Melbourne and Shanghai. Ferrari are apparently having to put the most fuel in at the start of the races so tend to come better pacewise towards the end of races and this coupled with Alonso's tyre preservation will be a big element in how successful a season it will be for the Scuderia. As well as upgrades, Ferrari will be analysing closely the engine problems that have been plaguing them and this will be vital because too many retirements will kill off any championship chances.

Mercedes - This is the team that intrigues me the most. Ross Brawn seem to play things very shrewdly in 2009, keeping enough of an advantage to get both championships but diverting resources to the 2010 car. However when the new car was launched it certainly followed the Red Bull trend, most visually with the dip in the front nose. Michael Schumacher has had a low key return whilst Nico Rosberg has impressed with 2 podiums but the raw pace is not there and changes are afoot. The wheelbase is being increased whilst the weight distribution is being recalculated. A big factor in this is the narrower front tyres for 2010. This means less front end mechancial grip and means understeer is more likely and this has been a particular problem for Schumacher. The main executives at Mercedes expect results and Brawn will want to deliver soon or else it could be a case of changing focus to 2011. The next few races will be fascinating seeing the Silver Arrows progress