They say the most important thing Formula One needs is unpredictability. The last major overhaul of the rules came in 2003, and produced one of the most open championships in recent times, with 8 different drivers winning a race, and the drivers crown settled by just 2 points. Then a year later, F1 got a reality check, with Michael Schumacher winning 13 races, and dominating the championship once again.
So, in come more changes for this year. New qualifying for this year see's drivers having just one shot at qualifying, instead of the 2 day format, it will be a one lap shootout. This years tyres lack a significant amount of grip than last year to provide some more exciting racing and downforce on the cars has been reduced to allow cars to follow each other easier through corners and present more overtaking opportunities. The season will now consist of 19 grands prix, the longest season ever, with the Turkish Grand Prix the newest on the calender.
Our main focus in this blog will be the newest British driver, Mark Stewart, who will be starting his career at Jordan. We will be giving in-depth analysis throughout every race of his career, as well as rounding up every day's events up and down the pit lane, complete with images and video highlights. Let's see the drivers and teams for this year:
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Michael Schumacher
Rubens Barrichello
Lucky Strike BAR Honda
Jenson Button
Takuma Sato
Mild Seven Renault F1 Team
Fernando Alonso
Giancarlo Fisichella
BMW Williams F1 Team
Mark Webber
Nick Heidfeld
West Mclaren Mercedes
Kimi Raikkonen
Juan Pablo Montoya
Sauber Petronas
Jacques Villeneuve
Felipe Massa
Redbull Racing
David Coulthard
Christian Klien
Panasonic Toyota Racing
Ralf Schumacher
Jarno Trulli
Jordan Grand Prix
Tiago Monteiro
Mark Stewart
Minardi Cosworth
Patrick Friesacher
Christijan Albers
Calender
1 Australian Grand Prix, Australia, Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne
2 Malaysian Grand Prix, Malaysia, Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur
3 Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain, Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
4 San Marino Grand Prix, Italy, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola
5 Spanish Grand Prix, Spain, Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
6 Monaco Grand Prix, Monaco, Circuit de Monaco, Monte-Carlo
7 European Grand Prix, Germany, N?rburgring
8 Canadian Grand Prix, Canada, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal
9 United States Grand Prix, United States, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
10 French Grand Prix, France, Circuit de Nevers, Magny-Cours
11 British Grand Prix, United Kingdom, Silverstone Circuit
12 German Grand Prix, Germany, Hockenheimring
13 Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungary, Hungaroring, Budapest
14 Turkish Grand Prix, Turkey, Istanbul Park
15 Italian Grand Prix, Italy, Autodromo Nazionale Monza
16 Belgian Grand Prix, Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa
17 Brazilian Grand Prix, Brazil, Aut?dromo Jos? Carlos Pace, S?o Paulo
18 Japanese Grand Prix, Japan, Suzuka Circuit
19 Chinese Grand Prix, People's Republic of China, Shanghai International Circuit
So, that's the line up for this year, and the start of the Grand Prix season is just around the corner. I do hope you can join us, till then!
The teams arrived in Melbourne fresh from months of winter testing, the winter being busier than the actual season, with the cars doing thousands of kilometers on track all day, several days a week.
Now we enjoy a warm welcome from the Australian people, and it's always a great place to start a season. The practice sessions were held under very warm and sunny conditions, which is always what the teams like to turn up to after the normally rainy winter season.
Jordan's Mark Stewart was the first driver out of the pits as the season finally got underway. The British driver did a 10 lap stint which included a bit of a slide at turn 14, which he ended up bouncing across the gravel. He later told us: "My main problem with the car is a lack of rear end grip, and having only joined the team last month I have only been in the car once before, so really I'm just getting my eye in throughout the practice sessions". Oversteer or not, he managed to clock up the 5th quickest time in the first practice session, 13 places in front of his team-mate. The next two sessions he was 12th and 6th, again well ahead of his team-mate, however, these sessions hardly give us a realistic look on how the grid will be after qualifying. In the last session on Saturday morning, Stewart was placed down in 15th place, not having a bad run, just not improving a lot on his previous times, whereas other drivers were. So in all, a very good and clean start to his career as an F1 driver, and he'll be looking to cause a few upsets later today and tomorrow.
The biggest surprise of the practice sessions was the performance of the Ferrari cars. Their bid to defend their titles hasn't started well, as the cars were well off the pace, with Michael placing no higher than 8th and Barrichello 10th. The Ferrari drivers complaining about an imbalanced car.
Renault and Mclaren are clearly the fastest teams out their, and it will a battle between all four drivers for the win it looks. Alonso was 2nd in all sessions and Fisichella 4th. Kimi was the fastest driver in all the sessions, and quite comfortably aswell, with Montoya in 3rd. Montoya has given his mechanics a bit of work to do before qualifying, after losing his nose after hitting the barrier at turn 13. Williams have also been down, with their drivers struggling to break into the top 10. Toyota have improved considerably as their drivers slowly improved to finish 6th and 7th in the last session, despite both drivers having off-track excursions.
So, those were the main stories coming off the practice sessions for Round One, and we do hope you can join us for what will surely be a fascinating quali and race as it always is down-under. See you soon!
Great to see you with a new story. How good is this game? Graphics are obviously not great but the actual racing side of things. If I see it cheap I might get it if it is easy to patch and the gameplay is good.
Apologies about the graphics. My comp is on it's last legs so graphics are better, but it is from 2002 so won't be anything like today's games. I'd say it's the best F1 game made, very easy to patch and plenty of MOD's available Look around racing forums for more...
After the practice sessions it was clear to see that Kimi was the man to beat around Albert Park. This appeared to be so as he took pole by a fraction from Alonso. Not much happens in qualifying now but there are still a few talking points. Michael Schumacher managed to take his Ferrari up to 6th place, quite a remarkable lap considering his team-mate was down in 12th. Webber and Trulli qualified a disappointing 15th and 16th respectively and Friesacher had an off on his lap. Down in the Jordan pits it didn't go well. Mark suffered an engine failure on his hot lap, to which team could not find any reason for, saying "it was just bad luck". He would have to start his first ever Grand Prix, from last place.
Mark's engine blow
Friesacher has problems
Grid 34 Laps
1. Kimi Raikkonen 1:27.344
2. Fernando Alonso +0.039
3. Juan Pablo Montoya +0.338
4. Jenson Button +0.475
5. Giancarlo Fisichella +0.543
6. Michael Schumacher +0.683
7. Nick Heidfeld +0.767
8. Ralf Schumacher +0.785
9. Felipe Massa +1.547
10. David Coulthard +1.644
11. Takuma Sato +1.742
12. Rubens Barrichello +2.337
13. Jacques Villeneuve +2.347
14. Christian Klien +2.420
15. Mark Webber +2.515
16. Jarno Trulli +2.783
17. Tiago Monteiro +4.097
18. Christijan Albers +4.629
19. Patrick Friesacher +7.642
20. Mark Stewart No time
Race day loomed and again blue skies greeted us. It was alot hotter, and there was a risk of showers late on in the race. The Aussies put on their usual fantastic opening to the new season, and attracted stars such as Nicholas Cage and Danni Minogue to the grid. The teams are always very anxious at this time of the year, the first time they get to see how much their many hours of work has done. As the grid pulled off for it's formation lap, the mechanics rushed back to the pits in a multi-coloured scurry, and on the pit wall, they were nervous, especially with the added threat of rain.
As the lights went out the front two made a good start a peeled away from the rest of the field. Mark made up places into the first corner. After battling with Barrichello for half a lap, Mark made a good move up the inside at turn 13 to take 12th place, and continue his great start to the race. At the end of lap two, Sato and Massa collided and blocked the road in front of Stewart. It caused him to back up which allowed Rubens back through. Then, after the next corner, Barrichello suffered gear box problems and suddenly slowed in front of Klien. Klien slowed but Stewart miss-read the situation and nudged the back of him. The Austrian was put in to a spin and lost his front wing, whilst Mark continued unscathed in pursuit of Sato and Massa.
Stewart passes a Ferrari
Sato and Massa block the track
Stewart takes out Klien
Mark's car problems seemed to be a thing of the past, there was no sign of the oversteer he was complaining about earlier this weekend. He set his sights on Sato and Massa, and unbelievably passed both of them with relative ease. In front of him was Coulthard in the Red Bull. Mark remained around a second behind him, and soon moved up a place thanks to Michael Schumacher pitting, rejoining right behind. Stewart held off the hard charging German and pitted on lap 11 from 7th place.
Onboard with Mark as he passes Sato
Massa is easy pray
After the first round of pitstops, Mark managed to leap frog Coulthard despite coming in earlier, and was thus up to 8th place. He ran smoothly without any problems. Michael was only a few seconds down the road, and he was on a 3 stop strategy. Michael pitted and this was Mark's chance to pass him, with a few blistering laps. On lap 22 it was his time to pit, the Jordan mechanics put under immense pressure in the first race of the season. A quick, 7.8 second pit-stop was put up by Jordan, and that was enough for Mark to enter the track marginally in front of Schumi, and 7th place was the British drivers.
The pit-stops worked out well for the Jordan driver
With Schumacher seemingly unhappy that a rookie was in front of him, he was trying anything to pass him. A mistake by the German took a lot of the pressure off and 2 points looked like they were going his way. However, no one was prepared for a finish like we had in Melbourne.
On lap 27, Stewart was heading down the main straight, when what could only be described as a "gear box glitch" by Jordan, came about upon Mark's car. He slowed down as he corrected the glitch, but Schumi was right back on his tail, and would have to do everything he could to stay in front. Then, on lap 29, clouds gathered around the track. Both teams were praying. The prancing horse for rain, so the rain meister could work his magic, and Jordan praying for it to stay dry, as Stewart had done no rain testing before. On lap 31, the heavens opened, and a summer storm came down. For two laps drivers managed to creep around on dry tyres as the track got extremely wet, and Stewart still managed to hold off the rain meister. On the penultimate lap, drivers knew that going in for wet tyres for the last lap could be essential, as it could probably give them 30 or so seconds a lap, and make it less hazardous.
All drivers except Montoya and Fisichella pitted for wet tyres, as they thought they would risk it on dry tyres. Then, as Mark was heading into the pits, after 33 laps without a mistake, he runs wide in the pits, and Michael slips by, in to 6th place, as Jenson Button had retired the previous lap due to engine failure. Nevertheless, he was guaranteed 2 points if he could stay on track for 1 lap. As they both came out of the pits, Schumacher ran wide at turn one, and this was Mark's chance to put one over the reining champion. He got a run at the German and planted it down the inside at turn 3. The move was looking good, but the Brit snatched a brake, and ran wide, letting the German slip back past on the inside. The Jordan driver however, in his first ever race, fighting with champions, and excelling in the wet. Was this the drive of a future champion?
At the front, Montoya's decision to stay out payed off. He got one over his much quicker team-mate, beating by just over a second. Down at Renault, their race ended in calamity. Alonso caught up Fisichella and went to pass at the last corner, but slid wide and hit the side of him, knocking him into a spin and putting the Spaniard down to 5th place, not the start he wanted with his new team-mate, who came home 3rd. Nick Heidfeld managed a good 4th place for Williams, and Ralf Schumacher gave Toyota their first points of the season.
Schumi and Mark battle in the rain
This off costing Mark an extra point
Stewart couldn't make this move stick on the last lap
The Renault drivers collide at the final corner
Montoya leads home a Mclaren one-two
"The race was amazing. I never thought I'd be fighting with Ferrari's for points in my first ever race, and especially after the engine failure yesterday. The car just had so much more grip today, most likely because of the hotter temperatures. I'd have to say I'm a bit pee'd off with my mistake on the last lap into the pits, but nevertheless, I held off one of the greatest drivers the sport has seen, and I'd like to thank my team for their work this weekend, I'd say it will be quite a late night tonight" - Mark Stewart
So, it's the end of the opening race of the season. It was a slow start to the weekend, as it normally is for the first round, everyone just wanting to get on that grid without any fuss. But the race proved to us how much we miss Formula One when it's in it's winter hibernation. It was an exciting race, with new exciting prospects in store for the rest of the year and many years to come, as a new wave of drivers look to put one over their experienced counter parts. Malaysia is up next, always excruciatingly hot. F1 is back, so don't miss out!
Wow, what a superb race to open the season. The game looks excellent, and produced some very realistic and eventful results. An excellent write up as well Mark, the mix of pics and description is perfect.
Thanks mate. And yes, there's many changes you can make, much more than any console F1 game. A.I. difficulty is changed in percentages so you can fine tweak it. Also many driver aids too.
Note: there won't be any video highlights because FRAPS makes all the captions laggy because of my near-dead computer:doh
Great race there. Nice to see Fisichella finish on podium and Mark to pick up a few points. The game looks good but like all F1 games, it is too easy right at the start.
wow. That's great. I wish they had that feature in F106 so I could see my wonderful overtaking moves more than once. So what do you do? Just finish the race without worrying and then do the write up from using the replay? Anyway, can't wait for the Malaysian GP.
Yes, F1 is back, and what a way to re-introduce itself, with a quality opener down under. It was a breath of fresh air for the sport, after the seemingly red coloured season we had last year.
The teams head to Asia, to Malaysia, and the circuit just outside Kuala Lumpur. The track is a superb modern day facility, wide with long straights heading into slow corners, the recipe for overtaking. So it should be another cracker.
This was to be another new track for Mark to learn, with long, quick corners, and an ambient temperature of always over 30?c. He had no problems on Friday, with a time 2.273 seconds off the pace and 15th place in the first practice session, improving to 11th by the afternoon session. Saturday came round and in an overcast morning session he was 10th. Rain poured down in a typical Asian monsoon fashion, but surprisingly not many drivers were hampered by the rain, no less Mark, who rocketed up to 6th in the final minutes of the session, as the track dried.
"My main aim for these sessions was learning the track, and it didn't take me long. It suits my driving style, long corners and heavy braking. The set up I achieved in the dry running is really good. I'm really driving the wheels off this car, and I'm being rewarded" - Mark Stewart
A heavy crash for Montoya in Practice 2
Takuma Sato caught out by the conditions
Qualifying was held in wet conditions, as the track was given another sprinkling before qualifying, and at the start. Drivers would have to be careful, as this was their only chance to qualify, a mistake would ruin their grid positions. And it was Alonso, streets ahead of the rest, that got his first pole of the season, 8 tenths ahead of Montoya, with Kimi Raikkonen down in 6th place, running wide at turn 1. The Ferrari's had another dismal weekend, qualifying 13th and 14th, and Klien was disappointed with 19th. The biggest surprise by far was once again young Brit Mark Stewart, confirming his awesome speed in the wet, put his Jordan 5th on the grid, with an amazing lap, 13 places in front of his team-mate. " I can smell more points", he said afterwards. Join us tomorrow for the race!
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