Mr Layvon's F1 insight.

[Mr LayVon]

Melbourne GP

A dry into wet condition practice, overall was good for everyone. Not a whole lot to say here.

1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.560
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.805 0.245
3 Michael Schumacher-Mercedes 1:28.235 0.675

Renault isn't looking to good this year with all the rule changes. Mercedes is looking much stronger with Schumacher taking P1 and fellow Mercedes powered cars taking high position's as well. Ferrari looks pretty bad though with there pull rod suspension. But overall a lot of cars are looking very competitive. Kobayoshi gave Sauber a heart attack at the very end of the practice with nearly putting the car into the wall. P2 Hulkenberg, P3 Perez. Great practice, cant wait till tomorrow for qualifying.

1 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:29.183
2 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:29.292 0.109
3 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.199 1.016

[Mr LayVon]

Melbourne GP

P3

Some off's but its the people who went off. Vettel first one going off into the gravel, and then his fellow german, Schumacher going off in the exact same spot. Other then that, practice was smooth and overall good.

1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.681
2 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:25.758 0.077
3 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:25.900 0.219

Qualifying

Q1: Not to good for Ferrari, the drivers and mechanics have alot of disappointment with the car and its pull rod suspension. They had to put both Masa and Alonso on soft tyre's to just make it into Q2. This year there are 6 world champions and 1 didn't make it into Q2, Raikkonen miss timed his final lap and didn't make it. Kobayashi taking top spot in Q1.

Q2: Ferrari's Alonso puts it into the gravel pit very early in Q2 and was out. This brought a red flag to qualifying with a little over 8 mins left in th session. This was the 2nd of 6 champions in the field being KO'd very early in qualfying. The end of Q2, both Ferrari's are out and first time in a very very long time, not making it into Q3. The top 4 spots where taken up by Mercedes powered engine's. Rosberg, Schumacher, Hamilton, Button.

Q3: What can i say, its an exciting qualifying, just one of the best ive seen. Felt like i was watching the last 3 laps of a race! Mclaren takes 1 and 2. Romain Grosjean takes 3rd. With Schumacher showing why hes a 7 time world champion taking 4th. Webber 5th and Vettel 6th, and with the stats on Vettel. When he doesn't qualify on the front row, he usually doesn't win. This year is looking to be a fantastic year, with alot of close competition.

1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.922
2 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.074
3 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:25.302

[Mr LayVon]

Race Review

A lot of action in the very first few minutes of racing. First corner a few cars got into each other, including sandwitching Webber. Button got a fantastic start and passes his teammate Hamilton in corner 1. Then both button and Hamilton pull a Vettel and run away from the pack quickly. By lap 10 Button had a 4 sec lead on Hamilton and 8 second's over 3rd place. Maldonado got into Growjean, who qualified 3rd place and was showing great potential, was hit and had broken front suspension. During the race, read tyre's seem to be a bit of a problem for most teams. As the rear downforce of the cars is less, with out the rear blown diffuser. So many cars where stuggling with the tyre wear. lap 38 had a yellow flag from Petrov's steering broke, race resumed on lap 42 with 18 laps left. Button had a great jump at the restart and disappeared from Vettel who was 2nd. Lap 44 Raikkonen reported to his team that Kobayashi's rear wing was broken and spreading pieces in front of him. Masa then plows into Senna. Senna shortly after retired his car. Shortly after with Kobayashi's wounded car locks up into a corner going past Rossburg, then Rossburg takes his spot back the very next corner. Lap 56 of 58, It goes Button, Vettel, Hamilton, Webber. Last lap Maldonado loses it and wrecks, witch hurt Rossburgs front wing so he had to let go of the pace and drop back, this also hurt Perez's car but he held his position. But the win goes to JENSEN BUTTON!! Overall a great race with a lot of action.

Final Results

1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes Winner

2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault +2.1 secs

3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +4.0 secs

4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault +4.5 secs

5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +21.5 secs

6 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +36.7 secs

7 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault +38.0 secs

8 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +39.4 secs

9 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari +39.5 secs

10 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +39.7 secs

11 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari +39.8 secs

12 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +57.6 secs

13 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +1 Lap

14 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth +1 Lap

15 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth +5 Laps

16 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault +6 Laps

Ret Felipe Massa Ferrari +12 Laps

Ret Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +20 Laps

Ret Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault +24 Laps

Ret Michael Schumacher Mercedes +48 Laps

Ret Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +57 Laps

Ret Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 58 Laps

DNS Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth

DNS Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth

Team Points
Pos Team Points
1 McLaren-Mercedes 40
2 Red Bull Racing-Renault 30
3 Sauber-Ferrari 12

Next weekend we head into Malaysia, See you then!

[Mr LayVon]

Jenson storms home to win Australian Grand Prix in style

Feel free to tell us we’re wrong (we’re no more in the Melbourne paddock than you are…), but didn’t Jenson Button just blow Lewis Hamilton’s doors off? No rain, no smart strategy, no accidents…just sheer speed. That’s not happened before. For the first time in a long time, Lewis has a car with which he can win the championship, but on the basis of this morning, he also has team-mate who can beat him. Ouch.

Whether you were up with Sky or have only just switched the BBC off, you’ll be rubbing your eyes. Button. Vettel, Hamilton, Webber, Alonso, Kobayashi… Did that just happen? There are a few stories there worthy of comment but none more so than the sense of shock on Lewis’ face on the podium, at the press conference, in the media pit.

This was not meant to happen. When Button joined McLaren in 2010 you will have been hard pressed to find anyone who thought it a good move for the newly crowned world champion. Sure enough in 2010 it looked thus; Lewis was on top. McLaren still his team. But last year the team’s centre of gravity visibly started to switch. Team boss Martin Whitmarsh would smile when talking about JB. Pause, wince and switch to PR mode whenever Lewis was mentioned.

It was easy to believe that Lewis’s scrappy race form and occasional public relations gaffes last year were a direct result of him experiencing a dislocation he’d never sensed before. Which of course only made things worse. For the first time in his career his team-mate beat him. It was Jenson’s race number three on the first MP427, Jenson who spoke first at the launch. But Lewis still looked confident. He’d taken a long break, got his act together… God only know how he’s feeling right now. Make no mistake. This is the story of the season so far for us.

Wow. So what else? I guess fast as they are, we still can’t take Mercedes-Benz seriously; the deeply trick F1-W03 eats its tyres and, apparently its gears too.

Red Bull? Well, you can’t keep a class act down and Vettel and Webber’s race pace was better than qualifying, an odd reverse on last year. But if you caught the radio transmissions you will have heard JB told he could not turn it up to 11 under any circumstance, so severely had McLaren under-fuelled its cars. Seb meanwhile got on the radio because he needed to crank some on. The MP4-27 is faster than the RB8. Not quite as much faster as the Red Bull was over the McLaren this time last year but faster. And remember, McLaren are the kings of in-season development.

Don’t be fooled by Alonso’s fifth place. That’s pure talent. With the focus he showed this morning he could have hauled the car currently outside in your drive into the points. The trouble is the FA2012 is only about as fast as your car and, in the hands of Felipe Massa, it was nowhere. It might now suit Ferrari management to deal with the Massa issue sooner rather than later. Ferrari doesn’t have a reserve driver, but does know and like Sauber-Ferrari diver Sergio Perez very well.

Perez himself drove a blinder today. One of the few conclusions we were able to draw from winter testing was that it would be close in the midfield and, my, wasn’t it?

Going in to the last lap Perez’s Sauber was trailing Maldonado’s Williams and Roberg, ahead of Kobayashi, Kimi Raikkonen, the Toro Rossos of Vergne and Ricciardo and Paul di Resta’s Force India… at the flag and after a huge accident for Maldonado, Kobayashi took the flag sixth ahead of Raikkonen, Perez, Ricciardo, di Resta, Vergne and Rosberg. We’re still trying to work out what happened there.

Last word on Kimi Raikkonen. Seventh was a good result to salvage, but let’s not forget his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean started third. He was unlucky to clash with Maldonado’s surprisingly quick Williams on lap two and end up in the gravel. It won’t be lost on Kimi, however, that Grosjean had already proven that the Lotus might well be the second quickest car out there.

Kimi’s got a lot still to prove, but then again after today, the pressure would seem to be on the man he beat to the 2007 World Championship, Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton.

[Mr LayVon]

Malaysia GP

Practice 1:

Hamilton takes P1 by half a second over Vettel and 8 tenths over Rosberg. I didnt have a chance to watch Practice one.

Practice 2: Hamilton grabbed fast lap again with 25 mins to go. A lot of cars are looking good this week. But this is only P1/2 so team's are not showing there true potential just yet. We wont really know until P3 and qualifying. Fastest lap at the end of the session was 1:38.172 from Hamilton. And just like in Melbourne last week, 4 Mercedes car's in the top 4. If this is anything like last week, they are sand bagging a lot. But who know's, we will just have to wait till tomorrow and see.

Watch Practice witch isn't shown on tv (I.E Practice 1/3) here on speed.com. The live stream. formula-one.speedtv.com/

See you tomorrow for P3 and qualifying for Malaysia GP!

[Mr LayVon]

Malaysia GP

P3

It was looking a bit cloudy, but wasn't raining. The track was wet so it must of opened up earlier in the day. The track though dried out quickly. Malaysia's weather is either very hot and humid or pooring rain. Not to many drivers came out until much later into P3. It stayed cloudy but did not start raining. Roseburg takes top spot towards the end of P3. over Vettel and Webber.

Qualifying

The sun was out at the beginning of qualifying, but they where calling for rain with in the hour. Masa having tons of trouble again trying to do anything. He has a brand new car after he complained tons about it, and still is showing shit results. Webber takes P1 by 4 tenths over Schumacher. P1 ends with sunny skys still and P2 starts with no clouds still. Perez was first onto track, shortly fallowed by everyone except Lotus's Grosjean. Maldonado had a quick off, skipping his William's across the gravel pit but not beaching it. Schumacher and Roseburg did final flying laps to get them into Q3. Masa again not making Q3, Alonso having a hard time making it as well. The Ice man showing his stuff here in Malaysia taking P1 by 2 tenths over Button. Q2 was super exciting with the top 10 being with in half a sec. Starting Q3 The sun was still out with no clouds in sight. what a great Q3, so exciting everyone doing such great last minute flying laps. And the results where MCLAREN 1 AND 2 AGAIN!!! Hamilton taking P1 and Button P2, he was slower then 1 tenth. Schumacher in 3rd by less then .030 behind Button, this was also his first time being in the top 3 sense 2006. Such a close qualifying here, with the top 8 being with in 1 sec. Can't wait till tomorrow for the Malaysia GP!

Results

1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.219

2 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.368

3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:36.391

4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.461

5 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:36.461

6 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.634

7 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:36.658

8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.664

9 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:37.566

10 ergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:37.698

11 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:37.589

12 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:37.731

13 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:37.841

14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:37.877

15 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:37.883

16 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes :37.890

17 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.069

18 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:39.077

19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:39.306

20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:39.567

21 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:40.903

22 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:41.250

23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:42.914

24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:43.655

Q1 107% Time 1:43.974

[Mr LayVon]

Race

The start of the race was great for Mclaren, both Hamilton and Button pulling quickly away from the pack. Also Grosjean shooting up from 6th up to 4th right next to Schumacher. A few corner's later they both touched and spun out. A few laps later Grosjean went into the gravel pit and got stuck. The ran by this point in time was pissing down hard. Lap 7 the call a caution not for a incident just cause the rain was so bad, oh and a lake forming in turn 12. Button called it in and the stewards quickly took action. The race was then red flagged on lap 9, and it didn't look like it would be letting up anytime soon. In fact RBR screen was showing that the rain would get worse soon. And it was, once the cars where stopped on the grid, you could really see how bad it was.
Unlike last year when the Canadian GP was red flagged cause of rain, witch then finished. That race took 5 and a half hours to finish, but this year the rule is the race length is 4 hours and no longer. Back in 2009 the race was exactly like this, but was then called off and ended. During that time Räikkönen was found back in the garage eating a ice cream and drinking coffee. So before this years race, he went and gave all the media ice cream's and a note saying, Enjoy the race, Kimi Räikkönen. All you can say is AHAHA, Räikkönen is such a fella. He is truly a riot to watch and listen to.
About 15 minute's later the rain started to let up a little bit, and the stewards sent the pace car out to check the track. 10 minutes later the sky's seemed to have parted and the sun became to break through. 5 minutes later the drivers started to come back and get into there car's. The cars where shortly driving again behind the pace car. They fallowed the pace car for 4 laps, during that time listening to the teams, alot of chatter of tire change though the track seemed still very very wet and not yet for inter's. Tons of cars went into the pits to get inter's, and what a gamble they are playing. first opening lap back it was Hamilton, Perez, Alonso. many cars came into the pits after the other's to get Inter's as well because Button's lap times where much much faster in sectors 1 and 2 with inter's on. Perez stayed out one more lap to take the lead shortly. Hamilton's pit stop was a cock up and lost the lead to button. But then Button got held up by Karthikeyan and got damage to his front wing giving up his huge advantage over his team mate Hamilton and dropping him back to 21st. Alonso then gained the lead, but after Perez's pit stop he got out in 2nd right behind him with Hamilton shortly behind him. Button then goes to run the fastest lap by more then 2.5 seconds over everyone else. Remembering back to last year in Canada where Button won with having a tough first part of the race dropping back to 21st and coming back to winning the race on the very last lap. So cant rule Button out yet. Lap 20 of 56 DRS was enabled again. Lap 24 Marussia tell's Glcok that rain is on its way. Button was complaining that his front tyre's weren't working and came in on lap 25. Alonso put more time between him and Perez, but then answer's back by taking the time back and taking fast lap and putting more time between him and Hamilton. Then Button with his fresh tyre's comes back and bumps it up by 2 seconds again. But no one can deny that Alonso is driving his ass off keeping that Ferrari in first place, and Perez doing the same Answering Alonso's times with even faster ones and beating Hamiltons! Kobayashi makes a brave pass on the outside on Schumacher. Lap 31 and P18 Button yet again sets a fast lap making his way back up to the top. The teams keep talking to the drivers and calling for rain. The rain keeps coming and going softly, but RBR is calling for a bigger shower. They called for rain but it hasn't started yet, and the tyre's at this point are starting to be destroyed cause the track's drying out. teams don't know if they should pit now or wait. Perez at lap 36 takes off even more time Alonso and is less then 5 sec's behind. Only one lap later Perez was less then 4 sec's behind Alonso. Lap 39 Perez knocks the time down to 1.2 sec's! Perez is driving his ass off to get Alonso! Lap 41 everyone starts to come into the pits to go onto the slicks, sense the rain just isn't coming. Lap 42 Perez comes into the pits. Lap 42 the rain starts slightly!! its just sprinkling but still, everyone just pitted to get onto slicks and it starts raining!!! The rain is just a sprinkle and is only near the pits, while that though Perez is going nearly 1 second a lap faster then Alonso, and going lap for lap with Webber who keep's setting fastest laps until Perez comes and takes it away! Lap 48 Vettel's tyre blows up on Karthikeyan's front wing and comes in to get it changed. This is the 2nd time Karthikeyan has gotten in the way, first being Button's destroying his front wing, then hitting Vettel's rear tyre. Lap 51 Perez goes off slightly and lose's 5 sec's to Alonso when they where only half of a sec behind! But Perez answers back and gets back nearly a second half a lap later. Lap 55 Maldanado gear box blows up, and they stop Vettel for similar thing who was back in 12th, Perez drove his ass off going after Alonso but it wasn't enough catch him and comes 2nd. But what a drive from Alonso in that crappy Ferrari and what a drive from Perez getting a podium for Sauber. The first one in a very long time. This was one of the best race's ive seen in quite a long time. What a turn out. This was also the first time in 18 race's that someone other then Button, Webber, Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso where on the podium. Also Perez was the first Mexican on the podium sense 1978.

Can't wait for the China GP in 3 weeks from now. See you then!!!

Results

1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari Winner

2 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +2.2 secs

3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +14.5 secs

4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault +17.6 secs

5 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault +29.4 secs

6 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault +37.6 secs

7 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +44.4 secs

8 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari +46.9 secs

9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +47.8 secs

10 Michael Schumacher Mercedes +49.9 secs

11 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault +75.5 secs

12 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari +76.8 secs

13 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +78.5 secs

14 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +79.7 secs

15 Felipe Massa Ferrari +97.3 secs

16 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault +1 Lap

17 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth +1 Lap

18 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +1 Lap

19 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +2 Laps

20 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth +2 Laps

21 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth +2 Laps

22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth +2 Laps

Ret Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +10 Laps

Ret Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +53 Laps

[Mr LayVon]

China GP

WE ARE BACK PEOPLE AFTER 3 WEEKS OFF.

Practice 1:
Anyways, P1 is always boring and nothing is shown here really. The teams like always just testing out different tire and fuel loads. P2 isn't a whole lot more exciting either, as they are just doing the same thing. Hamilton takes P1 with a 1:37.106 and 1 second faster then Rosburg in 2nd who ran a 1:38.116. But again P1/2 don't show much, the teams are just testing.

Practice 2:
Nothing big happened, Schumacher took P1 with Hamilton and Vettel close behind him. See you tomorrow for P3 and Qualifying!

[Mr LayVon]

China GP


Practice 3:

Very quickly into P3 cars got onto track and started doing laps, For a bit Webber took P1 but then was snatched away by the Mercedes drive Rosberg with his team mate Schumacher behind. The Mercedes cars are looking good this year, but in race there massive tire wear is a issue they are still working on. The Redbull team was also looking strong sitting in P3 and 4. 10 minutes left in P3 Button goes out for another run, and first flying lap, takes P1 away from Rosberg, going green in sectors in 1 and 3 and purple in 2. less then 5 minutes left, Button goes out again and pulls off an even faster lap, matching his sector 1 times and going purple in 2 and 3, nearly running in the 1:35's. Just seconds later, Hamilton goes Purple in 1 and 2 and green in 3 taking P1 away from his team mate by .123! With P3 over the standings where Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher and Webber rounding out the top 5.

See you in a couple of hours for Qualifying!!

[Mr LayVon]

China GP

Qualifying:

Starting right away, there where rumors that Hamilton needed a tranny change cause his was cracked, so he will take a 5 spot penalty. so even if he grabs pole, he will be starting 5th. Nothing huge happened in first round, things usually dont heat up until 2nd and 3rd. 2nd round Rosberg sat at P1 for most of it, with his partner Schumacher right behind him and Hamilton in 3rd. 2 minutes left, nearly everyone got onto track to start one last hot lap. the biggest news of qualifying was VETTEL COULDNT MAKE IT INTO THE 3RD ROUND OF QUALIFYING!!!! Also Perez takes P4 and Kobayashi takes P5 witch is huge for them. Masa of coarse was knocked out, and his seat in the Ferrari next year is looking less and less plausible. Rosberg takes P1 very early and then get sout of his car. He knew Hamilton was the only one that could knock him off and he has a 5 spot penalty. Round 3 ends, and Rosberg takes his very first pole ever!! This is also the very first pole in Mercedes history in over 50 years! and to make it better, its a sweap!! Schumacher takes P2. Aslo very big news, Kobayashi takes 4th, one of his highest starting spots. Hamilton took P2, but with his 5 spot penalty he goes to 7th. It sure was a exciting qualifying and surprising at the same time, but sure does look good!

See you tomorrow night for the China GP!!!

Results

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:35.121

2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.626

3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:35.691

4 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:35.788

5 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:35.898

6 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.191

7 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.290

8 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.524

9 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:36.622

10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:35.903

11 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.031

12 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:36.255

13 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:36.283

14 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:36.289

15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:36.317

16 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:36.745

17 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:36.956

18 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:37.714

19 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:38.463

20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:38.677

21 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.282

22 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:39.717

23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:40.411

24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:41.000

[Mr LayVon]

China GP

Race:

The race was 30 minutes away but i was already so excited to get the race started. Qualifying made me so excited i could barely handle it. lap 10, Hamilton and Räikkönen pit together, Hamilton just gets passed him to over take him coming out of the pits, but the Iceman wouldnt give up so easily. He goes tire to tire with Webber in the next few corner. They where so close to each other, you couldn't put a finger between them. Lap 13 Schumacher pits for new tires, but the nut wasn't fully on but the car was released and Schumacher is retired from the race. He was having such a great race to, poor Schummy. Lap 18 Perez goes into pits from first place and comes out in 9th. Lap 19 Rosberg is back in the lead with Button 2nd and Hamilton 3rd chasing him down. Rosberg is on the medium tire where both Mclarens are on softs. Webber on lap 24 leaps the fastest lap up to 1:41.486. Lap 26 Rosberg had a commanding lead over the rest with a 11 sec gap on 2nd place. Lap 29 Button was making his way up through the pack, after making due with Perez and Maldonado, he is now after the 2 time world champion Vettel. Lap 30 Vergne takes fast lap with a 1:41.104. Then Button takes fastest lap back again with a 1:40.908. Lap 39 Rosberg pits and loses first to Button. Lap 36 Maldonado takes fast lap with a 1:40.482, also Webber decided he was from the south and wanted to do a wheelie. Lap 40 Button goes into pits but has a slow stop!! This turns the tides greatly into favoring Rosberg and Mercedes. Lap 44 Rosberg had a 22 sec lead over Räikkönen, but from 2nd to 11th where with in 3 seconds of each other. I haven't seen such close racing like this in a long time. Anyone saying F1 isn't a spectator sport anymore obviously hasn't seen any racing this year! Lap 47 Kobayashi takes fast lap now, with a 1:39.996. Lap 50 Kobayashi nearly pushes Perez off the track trying to block him, god i love how aggressive Kobayashi is. He doesn't care who you are, even if its his own team mate, you will have the toughest time getting past him! the closing laps of this race have been so exciting, just so much action all over the track. Passing left and right, Räikkönen dropped back 6 spots in the matter of just 1 lap!! Then Maldenado Alonso and Kobayashi go 3 wide into corner 1! Then the very next lap, the 3 world champions Hamilton, Webber, and Vettel go 3 wide into corner 1 to!! HOLY SHIT PASSING EVERYWHRE, WHEEL TO WHEEL ACTION ALL OVER!!!
But the star of the show was truly Nico Rosberg. He takes his very first pole and at the same time, takes the win. This is also the very first win for Mercedes sense 1955! Hands down such a great win, congrats to him. I just can't explain how amazing this race was to watch, it was truly one of the greatest races i have seen ever!!

See you in Bahrain in 5 days!!

Results:

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes Winner

2 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +20.6 secs

3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +26.0 secs

4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault +27.9 secs

5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault +30.4 secs

6 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +31.4 secs

7 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault +34.5 secs

8 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault +35.6 secs

9 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +37.2 secs

10 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +38.7 secs

11 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +41.0 secs

12 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +42.2 secs

13 Felipe Massa Ferrari +42.7 secs

14 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault +50.5 secs

15 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +51.2 secs

16 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari +51.7 secs

17 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari +63.1 secs

18 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault +1 Lap

19 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth +1 Lap

20 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth +1 Lap

21 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth +1 Lap

22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth +2 Laps

23 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +3 Laps

Ret Michael Schumacher Mercedes +44 Laps

[Mr LayVon]

Bahrain GP

Practice 1:

Bahrain has always been a touchy subject if they are racing in the middle east or not. The track is the hottest of any GP stage and the sand that boarders the track also makes it very slippery. A little wind can blow and push sand onto the track and it would be very slippery. Mclaren didn't do to many laps, but still took P1 with Hamilton's 1:33.572. Button was a little bit down the order in 5th with a 1:34.277. Overall a good session.

Practice 2:

Very early on Button goes out and takes P1 with a 1:34.500. 1 hour and 10 minutes left Vettel takes P1 from his team mate Webber with a 1:33.639. Still nothing major to speak about. ! hour left of Practice 2, top 3 where Vettel, Schummy, Rosberg. Rosberg took P1 and stayed there for the rest of the session. The Force India team is sending there team back early cause some members where caught in the wrong place at the wrong time (protest). So they have concerns about safety, there is also a protest at the track just after practice 2 end's, and they don't want to get caught up in that. 25 minutes left Webber and Vettel take 2 and 3 and will stay there for the rest of the session. Over all practice was the same as alwasy's. Teams and Drivers just testing different setups with tires and fuel loads.

See you tonight for P3 and Qualifying!

[Mr LayVon]

China GP

Practice 3:

Rosberg took P1 for practice 3 with Vettel close by, and Webber close as well.

Qualifying:

Shummy didnt make Q2!!, there was a sand storm before practice 3 so it slowed the track down. Also Masa finally made it into Q2, but he had to use the softer tire. Other then that, no real big surprises. Q2 Masa was knocked out. Kobayashi was also knocked out. Raikken was knocked out aswell. 8 teams where represented in Q3 out of the 10 drivers. In Q3 Vettel takes his first pole of the year with Hamilton right on his bumper and Webber 3rd.

Results:

1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:32.422

2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.520

3 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:32.637

4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.711

5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:32.821

6 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:32.912

7 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:33.008

8 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.394

9 Fernando Alonso Ferrar No time

10 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes No time

11 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:33.789

12 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.806

13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:33.807

14 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:33.912

15 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:34.017

16 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:34.852

17 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:34.639

18 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:34.865

19 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:35.014

20 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:35.823

21 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:37.683

22 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:37.883

23 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:37.905

24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:38.314

See you tomorrow for the China GP!

[Mr LayVon]

Bahrain GP

Race:

Up to lap 24, nothing major has happened, Hamilton had 2 terrible stops. But other then that, the race has been very very close. Rosberg has pushed 2 cars off the race track onto the dirt, He's pushed Hamilton first and just now on lap 26 Alonso. Lap 26 Malondado Spun and caused damage to the chassis and retiring. 17 laps to go, this race is still close, so many cars running close to each other. Also this race is looking like it will be 4th different manufacturer to win. 4 races 4 different race winners, we arn't sure yet but we will see soon. Leading at the moment is Vettel, Raikkonen then Grosjean. 9 laps left, the order is the same, Vettel is wearing his tires fast though and Raikkonen catching fast. If Vettel wins the race, it will be the 4th different driver to lead the championship this year as well. Also just 4 races in, the way things stand there will be 8 different drivers on the podium, unlike last year where there was only 7 in total all year. This year is showing more and more how close and tight nit this years championship in F1 is. Lap 55 Buttons rear right tire starts to blow up, so he comes into the pits and goes onto the soft tires. Lap 56 Senna parks the car, both Williams DNF. Then on the radio Rosberg gets the radio his exhaust is broken. Then Button comes into the pits not exactly sure whats wrong yet, so 3 cars DNF so far. Raikkonen can not catch Vettel fast enough and takes the win, with Raikkonen 2nd and Grosjean 3rd. Button had exhaust and Dif problems.

Results:


1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault Winner

2 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault +3.3 secs

3 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +10.1 secs

4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault +38.7 secs

5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +55.4 secs

6 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +57.5 secs

7 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +57.8 secs

8 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +58.9 secs

9 Felipe Massa Ferrari +64.9 secs

10 Michael Schumacher Mercedes +71.4 secs

11 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +72.7 secs

12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +76.5 secs

13 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +90.3 secs

14 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari +93.7 secs

15 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari +1 Lap

16 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault +1 Lap

17 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +1 Lap

18 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes Exhaust/differential

19 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth +2 Laps

20 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth +2 Laps

21 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth +2 Laps

22 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault Retired

Ret Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault Puncture

Ret Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth Engine

[Mr LayVon]

Spain GP

Practice 1:

1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:24.430

2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:24.808

3 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:24.912

Practice 2:

New from the 3 day practice in Mugello. Mclaren didn't use either of there drivers for practice and only use there test drivers. Rossi the test driver for Caterham did quite well for his very first time in a F1 car. With little over a hour left, nothing major has happened, Vettel topping the charts with Vergne in 2nd and Alonso 3rd. 35 minutes left and Webber goes off the track into the gravel, but he drives away leaving stones all over the track. 5 minutes left Karthikeyan drives his car off the track after only 1 lap cause of his electronics. 25 minutes left Perez goes off the same exact spot Webber does. 5 minutes left in P2 it goes Button, Vettel, Roseburg.

1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.399

2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:23.563

3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.771