Fan Formula Awards 2012

Favourite Race: European Grand Prix (Valencia)

It was a very close contest between this and Brazil, but I went for Valencia because it was arguably the most exciting dry race we had all season. 

And for it being the first recorded instance of an exciting race at Valencia.

Joking aside though, it had everything Brazil had apart from the rain. Cars going off, breakdowns, overtaking, and the best driver of the season won when the car was still pretty terrible. It summed up what a crazy season it's been.

Favourite win: Pastor Maldonado (Spain)

Even though I'm not a fan of Pastor per se, it was great to see a driver get their first win and Williams' first since 2004. And on Frank Williams' 70th birthday to boot. Only overshadowed by the fire in the garages afterwards, but even that showed the true spirit of the sport.

Most enjoyable overtake: Fernando Alonso on Felipe Massa and Mark Webber (Brazil)

Taking two cars at once into the Senna S, in very tricky conditions, in what was far from the best car in the field, can only be yet another reason why people are naming Alonso as the driver of the season. Magnifique!

Favorite Quote of the Season: "Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!" (Kimi Raikkonen, Abu Dhabi)

Nothing more needs to be said really. You know a quote is good when it's immortalised as a t-shirt slogan.

Favourite VT: BBC's 2012 Season in Review

The arguments about the BBC's commitment to Formula 1 since the coverage split are still going on, but there's no denying that they can still make a VT that tugs at the heartstrings. It keeps the focus on the key moments, while not going overboard with the funny moments from Jake, DC and Eddie. It feels very final; shots of tracks and their lingering fans in the sunset, and the teams packing away equipment, are very well edited, and filming artist Nikki Douthwaite making a portrait of Vettel from dots of Formula 1-themed newspaper cuttings was a clever touch. But it's the use of Alistair Griffin's 'Always Number 1' that I think adds to the poignancy the most, emphasising the feeling that we might never witness a season like this again. I'll admit that it did make me tear up a bit!

Most Shocking Moment of the Season: Maria de Villota's test crash

I think everyone was shocked when they heard how seriously Maria had been injured in the test at Duxford back in July. As soon as you see the words 'life-threatening injuries', nothing other than them pulling through matters.  This more than anything else this season brought home the fact that motorsport is still dangerous. We hope that Maria keeps on her remarkable path to recovery.

Naughty Boy of the Year: Romain Grosjean/Pastor Maldonado

Couldn't really mention one without the other here, for obvious reasons! Hopefully Pastor will keep on his calm and collected streak, and Romain will develop his spacial awareness more. Because they're both clearly very fast drivers, and although the controversies surrounding them added to the excitement of the season, it's not nice to see a lot of penalties in every other race.

Most Emotional Moment: Vettel in last place after being hit (Brazil)

A moment of despair for a Red Bull fan, and in the midst of the whole bar we were in cheering wildly, I honestly thought it was all over after this happened. My initial thought at the time was, "so this is what Fernando felt like back in 2010...". The next 2 hours were spent nervously drumming the table and keeping tabs on Seb's progress through the field, and a massive sigh of relief when he finally came across the line a triple world champion. Nerve-wracking stuff.

Most Hilarious Moment: Kimi Raikkonen getting lost (Brazil) and High Five Fail (USA)

Couldn't really separate these two, as I've never heard a whole room howl with laughter as much as when these two things happened. Kimi trying to find the gate back to the track gave way to this brilliant parody video, and the VIPs epic fail has been GIF'd for everyone's viewing pleasure.

Most Breathtaking Moment: THAT first-corner crash (Belgium)

If anything, I think this made us even more thankful than we already are, that Formula 1 cars are strong enough to withstand an impact like that these days. I was watching the race at the pub with some friends, and the emotions went from shock > fear > anxiety > relief in the space between the crash starting, to everyone involved being safely out of their cars. It literally took our breath away and left us in an uneasy silence. Definitely the scariest moment of 2012, and we were damn lucky that no-one was seriously injured.

Monaco Mania

To be totally honest, I only partially agree with this week's title as I found the race a bit boring. It got to the point that I was even yawning at some points... but there was plenty of mania before the race and Webber won after *finally* getting a good start off the line, meaning Red Bull have now got a hat-trick in Monaco. So I really can't complain all that much!

© Daily Mirror Sport

Q1) In FP3 we saw Pastor Maldonado bump tyres with Sergio Perez, and in response was awarded a 10-place grid penalty. What was your view on the incident and the resulting penalty?

A: Maldonado has garnered quite a reputation for being hot-headed, and the incident with him and Perez hasn't done anything to try and rebuff that. He said afterwards that he 'lost the car' due to being on cold tyres, but from what I've seen from replays of the incident, there's nothing to suggest that he had oversteer or any other problem that could have caused him to swipe across Perez in the way that he did. With the confines of the track being so tight in Monaco it's incredibly difficult for cars that have been blue-flagged to move over, and to be fair to Perez he did his best to move over as much as he could, slowing down significantly. Maldonado could see this and had enough space to go around the outside of him going into Portier, so I don't understand why he chose to stay on the line he took. 

Looking at it like this, I think it was right for the stewards to give Maldonado the 10-place grid penalty. Although this incident was fairly minor compared to the one with Lewis Hamilton in Belgium last year, it was still a dangerous piece of driving that would have been completely avoidable had he kept his head and just backed off a little. With him being on cold tyres and on his first lap it wouldn't have been that detrimental for him to do this, as he could have created a gap and pushed again on the next lap. Also, with it being the second time of him doing something like this, the punishment needed to be harsher to act as a deterrent to Maldonado and the rest of the drivers. If he were to do something similar again in the future, I'd expect him to be starting from last or DSQ'd from the race as a third strike.

Q2) Qualifying saw Sebastian Vettel not set a lap time, and through this benefiting from the choice of tyres in the race. Do you think that this rule should be changed, with penalties enforced if a driver/team do not set a time in Q3?

A: You can't give the teams/drivers penalties when all they're doing is maximising their chances of getting a good result - Formula 1 would be a very funny sort of sport otherwise. The rule saying that the top 10 have to start on the tyres they set their Q3 times on will mean that teams will gamble with not setting a time, in order to start on fresh rubber. And when it works, like it did for Sebastian, then it will make it even more of an incentive, so I think we'll see it a lot more as the season progresses. The above rule hasn't really done anything to alter the running in the early stages of races, which it was designed to do, instead ruining Q3 and making it anti-climatic, even dull in some cases, for those of us watching. In an ideal world the rule would be scrapped and teams would be given a slightly larger allocation of tyres to accommodate for it, or even be given special qualifying-only tyres. But with Formula 1 trying to cut down on its environmental impact this won't be happening, so I'm afraid drivers sitting out Q3 will be a regular occurance. Which is sad, as we're not getting to see the cars' true capabilities when on the edge.

Q3) A slow pitstop, being hit on the head by numbers falling off pit boards, and a lack of communication regarding Vettel's pace left Lewis Hamilton frustrated with the race. Do you think this will affect his upcoming contract renewal, and what do you think his options would be aside from McLaren?

A: Lewis, bless him, doesn't seem to having much luck this season! And it isn't his fault, as he seems to have got himself together psychologically after his worst ever season last year. You can't blame him for being frustrated with everything that's happened at McLaren in these first six races. The car is capable of winning,  as Jenson Button proved in Australia, but it's been mistakes from the team like poor pitstops and the fueling problem in Spain that have caused them to now be lagging behind. If McLaren don't get their act together soon, I think Lewis will start to consider looking for a ride elsewhere. Where at is another matter...

On the face of it, his options are broad - at the time of writing Ferrari, Lotus, Mercedes and Red Bull all only have one driver contracted for next season, with Williams, Sauber, Force India and Toro Rosso having no-one confirmed for 2013. But assuming he wouldn't want to move to a midfield team and taking other factors into account, Lewis' opportunities are soon narrowed:

Ferrari - appears to be a no-no as the history between Lewis and Fernando Alonso isn't great, with the two having had some controversial incidents while together at McLaren in 2007. Add to that an uncompetitive car, and Sergio Perez being widely accepted to be taking the seat if Felipe Massa doesn't improve sufficiently, the door at Maranello seems firmly closed for the moment.

Lotus - personally I couldn't see Lewis going to Lotus and I think it would be a risky move, as historically Lotus have been poor at developing a car throughout the season (a key strength of McLaren's). Despite this they've built a strong car this year, regularly fighting for podiums, so wins aren't out of the question. But Kimi Raikkonen is doing well despite his few years out of the sport and seems motivated and happy, while the close relationship between Romain Grosjean and Eric Boullier means that I think he'll be given another season to assess his performance.

Mercedes - Mercedes and McLaren have a close relationship through their engine deal and the team are now proven race-winners after their victory in China. If everything can come together, as this season has shown, then Mercedes have the potential to be regularly competing for wins and this will be a big incentive for Lewis. Michael Schumacher has struggled on his return to the sport and question marks have already been raised about his future, while Lewis and Nico Rosberg have a very good relationship, having competed against each other through the lower formulae. If Mercedes continue to show good pace and Red Bull keep Mark Webber on, a move here can't be ruled out.

Red Bull - probably the place where Lewis would have his eye on first. Although not as competitive this season, they've proven that they still have what it takes to win, and constructors' and drivers' championships for the last two seasons will make Red Bull a very attractive move. I think Lewis would relish the challenge of having Sebastian Vettel as a team-mate and they would push each other hard, so it would be very interesting to see how they performed together. This is all dependent on Mark Webber leaving - at 35, he's nearing the end of his career and rumours of his retirement, along with a move to Ferrari, crop up around this time of year. He's also made it no secret about his unhappiness with certain events in the past, with his 'not bad for a number two driver' comments in 2010. But he's proven that he still has the talent and experience to win races and seems happy in the team for the moment. Depending on what Mark decides to do, I could really see Lewis making the switch here.

BONUS [as suggested by @joshbohnf1]) Do you think we should still be racing at Monaco when overtaking is clearly important in modern Formula 1?

A: There's lots of arguments for and against Monaco still being on the calendar. Of course the narrow and twisty nature of the circuit makes overtaking extremely difficult, resulting in often boring races as well as maybe making the race more dangerous than the rest. But that's what makes Monaco unique - it provides a unique test for the drivers, and the history and prestige (as well as the glamour) that surrounds it makes it a thrill for both drivers and fans. Having said that, Spa-Francorchamps has a lot of these qualities, but its future in Formula 1 has been under threat for a couple of years now. It's interesting to hear everyone's viewpoints on the subject but the fact is that Monaco will be staying with us for the forseeable future.

© Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Sunny Sakhir

Hello everyone! Firstly apologies for not doing any #FanFormula posts for the last couple of weeks, I've had various events back home which meant that I couldn't write my thoughts up. Hopefully, normal service will now resume.

Q1) Friday saw Force India pull out of FP2 due to an incident involving their team personnel on the Wednesday night. What did you make of their decision and the controversy around FOM showing no coverage of the team during qualifying?

A: After what happened to those Force India mechanics I really don't blame some of them for going home. It was interesting to hear deputy team principal Bob Fernley say that the team were pretty much on the verge of a meltdown, had they not skipped FP2 to get back their hotel before sunset, so in that sense I thought it was a sensible decision and one that was for the the greater good of the team. Though it didn't seem to affect their performance all that much, with Paul Di Resta equalling his best-ever finish in Formula 1 by crossing the line in 6th.

The Curious Case of the Invisible Force India's... © Force India/Sutton Images

However, qualifying in particular will be remembered for FOM's apparent snub of the team's performance. It's fair to say that Force India have had a somewhat lukewarm start to this season, so making Q3 was quite an achievement that many weren't expecting. Unfortunately we never got to see any of their hard work, as hardly a shot of them made our TV screens. Social media went rife with conspiracy theories that Bernie Ecclestone had ordered FOM not to cover the team as revenge for them missing FP2, while Bernie's comments on the matter didn't help:

"Nobody cares if someone is 9th or 11th, only the people that are watching a particular team"

By that logic, no-one cared when Michael Schumacher only qualified 18th due to problems; no-one cared when Sebastian Vettel qualified 11th in China; no-one cared when Kimi Raikkonen qualified 18th on his return to the sport in Australia, after so much hype. I often wonder if Bernie makes these controversial comments just to draw more attention to the sport (as the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity). At a time when the whole world has been scrutinising Formula 1, comments such as these show that he's becoming increasingly out-of-touch and as such, it really wouldn't surprise me if he did order FOM to snub the Force India's as revenge.


Q2 [as suggested by @HedgeryHoops]) The stewards reviewed the two incidents between Nico Rosberg and Hamilton/Alonso and have decided not to penalise him. Do you agree with their decision? If not, what would you have done?

A: No I don't agree! I couldn't believe what I was seeing as the incidents, especially the one with Hamilton, reminded me of the Schumacher and Barrichello incident at Hungary 2010:

If it had been another few centimetres Hamilton would have slammed into that barrier, and if that run-off had been grass instead of concrete a crash would have been almost certain to happen. At least Schumi had the good grace to apologise to Rubens after their scrap, unlike Nico, who defended his actions and said that it was good racing. He's entitled to his opinion but in my view pushing another racer off the track, especially so close to barriers and walls, is completely unacceptable and downright dangerous, and he should have been given a drive-through penalty for both incidents.


Q3) Bahrain was our first dry race of the season, which saw the first win for Red Bull and a double podium for Lotus. Do you think that this indicates that even without weather intervening, that the grid is a lot closer this year and that we will continue to see a variety of drivers and constructors on the podium for the rest of the season?

A: The grid has definitely been much closer this year and that's been evident in qualifying, with the top 10 in Bahrain (barring Alonso and Di Resta, who didn't set times in order to save tyres) being covered by just under a second. Red Bull not being the dominant force they were last year, Ferrari struggling, McLaren's pitstop problems, Mercedes' tyre wear and Lotus' pace have really opened up this year's championship and have given us some great racing up to now, which makes a nice change from the domination of last year. Having said that, with Spain being the traditional time of the teams bringing big updates, I think the top 4 teams (McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Lotus) will pull away slightly from then on, but the way the results have gone up to now it would be silly to make any concrete guess as to how the rest of the season may unfold.


BONUS) Who was your driver of the day and why?

A: This is a really hard one to answer. There were quite a few great drives to choose from - Vettel did what he does best and left the rest for dust after starting from the front; Webber scored his fourth 4th place in a row in a great show of consistency; Raikkonen performed some great overtaking, as well as using the set of soft tyres he saved in qualifying to challenge Vettel for the win; and Di Resta managed to make a 2-stop strategy work despite a late charge from Alonso.

But my driver of the day is everyone's favourite croissant/giraffe/Sid the Sloth, Romain Grosjean. He finally proved that he has the raw pace to score podiums, maybe even wins, and gave Raikkonen a good run for a while before having to yield to save his tyres. It was a very mature drive and I have a feeling we'll be seeing much more of him on the podium, as long as he can keep out of trouble!

Smile! © AFP

10%

10% into the season already. I can tell this year is going to absolutely fly by...

Q1) In the past two races we have seen four different constructors on the podium. With the recent break do you think that any teams in particular will have made a large improvement or will this only occur by the European leg of the calendar?

A: I said in my last post that I don't think we'll see any major improvements until everyone brings updates to the Spanish GP, but then I remembered that Ferrari are giving Felipe Massa a brand new chassis for the Chinese GP. So we could well see a big improvement from them if Massa responds well to the new car, which I hope he does as it's been quite sad seeing him flounder in the lower-midfield up to now.

In the meantime, I think we'll see some improvement from Lotus. The only reason they don't have more points is because of sheer bad luck, with Kimi Raikkonen's gearbox problem in Malaysia and Romain Grosjean's bumper-cars in both races costing them chances of podiums. Whether they can keep up in the development race come mid-season is another matter, and one which they didn't seem to cope well with last year...

© Ferrari Media

Q2) This weekend has seen the 'kick off' for some of the lower series, including BTCC, Clio Cup and (during the Malaysian race weekend) IndyCar. Have you watched any of these series, and if so why and how?

A: I've watched all the above, bar the Clio Cup, as I just happened to be busy when they were on the TV! This year I'm trying to make more of an effort to get into other forms of motorsport that are on TV - as fun as single-seaters are, there's many more series out there that give the same, though usually rather different, thrills when you watch. BTCC in particular was brilliant and it was great to see it back in it's carnage-ridden, controversy-fuelled glory, while I've only really been watching IndyCar because of Rubens Barrichello's recent move there. The race from Barber was a great watch though, so much overtaking! I'll be keeping an eye on the Indy Lights series too, as local lad Oli Webb makes his American debut this year.

Q3) With the Crazy Chinese Grand Prix fast approaching, it will be the first Grand Prix that the BBC will have live and be in direct competition with Sky. Who do you think will be the channel that the majority choose and which will you be watching live?

A: The BBC will win hands down - free-to-air will always win over pay-per-view, no matter how different the channel's approaches to presentation, analysis etc. are as it's just easier for the majority to access. Personally I'll be watching the race on the BBC, as I miss the more laid-back camaraderie between Jake, David and Eddie and I'm warming towards Ben Edwards' commentary with every race.

BONUS) Vettel referred to Karthikeyan as a 'cucumber' after the Malaysian GP but if you could represent a driver of your choice as food, which food would it be and why?

A: I wasn't observant enough to notice this myself, but a few weeks ago @theFakeVettel was comparing Romain Grosjean to a croissant. Not only are they both French (well, one's from Geneva but I think we'll let him off) and quite warm and lovely, I think the likeness between them is rather uncanny...

To 2012 And Beyond

Only 2 days to get ready for FP1 at Melbourne and I'm woefully under-prepared this year. Not even decided what's going into the midnight snackbox of chocolatey goodness yet. No matter, it's time for #FanFormula again, albeit a bit later than usual.

Q1) HRT and Marussia, with only days remaining until the F1 returns, have passed the final FIA crash tests. What do you make of their delayed start to the season and will this have an effect on 2012 and future seasons for the teams?

A: It's never nice to see teams struggling, no matter who you support. The new rules requiring teams to pass all 18 FIA crash tests have obviously taken a big toll on HRT and Marussia's pre-season programme, so much so that it will be extremely difficult for them to improve their performances from last year. Yes, the tyre data both teams collected with their 2011-spec cars will be of some help, but they can't even begin to think of moving up the order if they can't get their cars ready for testing. It's just too crucial an event to miss now that in-season testing is banned, and it's plain to see that the very modest budgets of HRT and Marussia just can't deliver at the moment. Unless they see a substantial amount of investment in the future, I wouldn't be surprised if both teams pulled out of Formula 1 in a couple of years time.


Q2) With several teams completing several 'filming days' before the season begins, should this be allowed or is it just a way for the teams to get a few sneaky test laps in without being at a test session?

A: I'm a firm believer of 'filming days' being another term for private test days! But I don't think they're a bad thing, I imagine it's good for the teams to get some mileage away from the prying eyes of their competitors. It would be nice if they had a set number of filming days in a season, to do shakedowns of new parts and give third drivers some running time. But with in-season testing banned and Formula 1 trying to cut down on costs, that won't be happening anytime soon.

Q3) 2012 is rumoured to be the last year that both Catalunya and Valencia feature in the race calendar; what is your view on this and will this bring the end of the European GP?

A: It's a shame but it's the right thing to do. We all know that Spain has suffered quite badly from the Eurozone economic crisis and hosting two Grands Prix each year just doesn't seem to make sense right now, when they have much more important issues to deal with. And let's be honest, Catalunya and Valencia are two of the more processional races on the calendar, so having one less boring race each year is a good thing! As for the future of the European Grand Prix, it's looking a little bleak. There are plenty of tracks to choose from that could host the Grand Prix on a rotation basis, but it's a question of whether they can afford the huge costs of hosting a race, which in the current economic climate seems unlikely.

BONUS) Now that all of the liveries have been revealed, which is your favourite and which one do you like the least?

A: It's been a real mix with liveries this year. The McLarens always look nice in chrome but it's starting to get really boring now, and it's the same story with the Red Bulls and Toro Rossos.

The worst though, by far, is Sauber's offering:

As they don't have many sponsors you'd be inclined to feel a bit of sympathy for them. But, like last year, it feels like they haven't even tried. In fact it looks like they cobbled it together on Microsoft Paint as an afterthought, and as such it looks a complete mess. The new addition of the black nose-cone also accentuates how blunt their interpretation of the stepped nose is, making it one of the ugliest of the 2012 cars. If only they went back to one of their earlier designs...

As for the best, Lotus' livery is just scrumptious. Despite being sponsored by a deodorant company this year and the red end-plates spoiling things slightly, the black-and-beige (doesn't look gold to me!) JPS homage has looked every bit as gorgeous on track as it did in the launch photos. Under the floodlights of Singapore and Abu Dhabi, it'll be heavenly!

© Getty Images