He
y guys, it’s time to talk Formula One! In this blog, I’m going to talk about two things: one sporting, one political and ethical. First, the sporting side.
We’re three races into a 20-round season. So far, we’ve had a semi-street circuit (Albert Park) and two Hermann Tilke tracks (Sepang and China). In these three races, we’ve seen two different polesitters in qualifying, and three different race winners, all from different teams.
This is very strange for Formula One. Most years – particularly so early in the season – there will be a standout car. The last few years, it’s been the Red Bull. Before that, the Brawn. And before that, McLaren.
So, three races in, it’s fair to say the following things:
– Red Bull is struggling (compared to the last two years); RBR is simply not as quick as the Mercedes-powered teams
– It’s probably safe to say that the McLaren is still faster than the Mercedes
– Fernando Alonso’s win in Malaysia wasn’t based on the superior speed of the Ferrari – it’s still a fairly crap car. Massa, for example, hasn’t scored even a single point yet this year. But then again, he is Felipe Massa.
Until the teams bolt on their major update packages a few more races down the track, don’t expect this order to change in Bahrain. If anything, the McLarens should be more competitive thanks to the hotter conditions. Button remarked that the colder conditions in China affected the McLaren’s ability to hold heat in its tyres, and therefore the car’s competitiveness.
Rosberg cautioned Mercedes fans not to start getting too excited after his win in Shanghai. “I had a great race in China but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be like that at every race,” he says. “Bahrain could be a little bit of a different story again. We need to wait and see. It’s difficult to predict.”
As for the intriguing Vettel versus Webber battle at Red Bull (Webber has out-qualified Vettel every race this year), keep a watch on Vettel in Bahrain. He’s a gritty, very determined little German. His car was slightly different to Webber’s in China, but the team have since changed his car back to the same specification. So Webber and Vettel will be back in identical spec machines this weekend.
As for the race winners, you would do well to back a McLaren. And of Button and Hamilton, you would almost choose the latter over the former.
So the sporting side now discussed, there beckons a bigger question – one with an ethical and political dimension: should F1 be racing in Bahrain at all?
Formula One overlord Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Jean Todt have both declared Bahrain as a “quiet and peaceful” place, and that it’s safe to race. But then of course they’re going to say that, given the amount of Middle Eastern cash invested in Formula One (Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, holds a significant stake in McLaren, for example).
With the Middle Eastern country embroiled in political unrest (that which we won’t delve into for reasons of keeping you awake), many commentators have argued that the last thing that should be happening there is a car race. Certainly a lot of the drivers have expressed concerns for their safety.
On Wednesday, Bahraini police were embroiled in a tense stand-off with more than 200 protesters, with the confrontation eventually ending when police used stun grenades to clear the crowd. That same day, a petrol bomb exploded not far from the vehicle of Force India mechanics travelling from the circuit. While they weren’t deliberately targeted and no-one was hurt, one of the mechanics has since asked to go home.
And since February last year, nearly 50 people have been killed in bloody clashes between protesters and security forces.
It’s a hard one, and probably by the time you read this, the race weekend will already be underway. Is that the right thing to do? What is your opinion on the matter?
Oh, and don’t forget to share your thoughts on the sporting stuff as well…