Round 12 - Spa - F1 is back.

Yes Ladies and Gentlemen I am back with a blog that will end up being only one day behind schedule but will still be posted before the practice sessions which is when I promised this to be. Coming up this weekend is undoubtedly one of the jewels in the F1 crown: The 2011 Belgian Prix at the legendarily fast and demanding Circuit de Spa Francorchamps for round 12 of the 2011 Formula One World Championship

Before I continue I am making a point not to discuss the television rights of the sport in this country. This is because many points and been hammered and counter hammered home by the actual people who about the sport from the inside the sport and my opinion would be perhaps useless as well as quite frankly not relevant as someone who has a Sky Box and will be able to watch every race from 2012 onwards.

Back to the racing the championship, as you probably well know, is well in Sebastian Vettel's court seeing as he has an 85 point lead over his win-less teammate Webber who is being closely courted by Hamilton, Alonso and Button.

The previous race was a race which on raw pace was quite frankly dominated by the dry weather pace of Hamilton and the mixed weather confidence of race winner Button who was followed home by Vettel, Alonso (despite at least 3 off track moments), Hamilton (after a spin, wrong tire choice, drive through and an epic pass on Webber) and Webber to round the top 5 off.

The first major point of interest which I shall talk about is something i mentioned in my previous blog involving the championship leading Red Bull team:

The Renault powed RB7 has cured it's reliability problems so it will most definitely finish the races but as the last two races have proved in particular it appears to not have the same utterly dominant pace that it had at the start of the season. It was a brilliant piece of Adrian Newey design which started the season crushing all before it and is now a car that has recently struggled to get onto the podium thanks to the awesome form of both Mclaren drivers and Alonso in the Ferrari.

I have been thinking, looking at the car and the thought that has sprung to my mind on multiple occasions is that it has perhaps reached a technological peak that any developments that can go on the car will be fewer and further between. That is not the fault of Adrian Newey, if anything it shows how he is able to design a fast car without any on track testing. The problem is at this point in season it seems that there is not much done that can make it faster than it is and it gives Mclaren and Ferrari some hope of catching and properly overhauling Red Bull before the end of the season.

There is an equal but opposite problem going on a Ferrari. They are going to stop develop their F150 Italia this coming months. It was car that flattered to deceive in the first few races and then went on to battle right at the head of field, taking it's first win of the season at Silverstone. It has come on leaps and bounds and has given Alonso a shot at the third championship which would put him automatically into the list of all time greats which includes names like Fangio, Piquet and Senna so why they are looking at starting work on the 2012 car is beyond me.

This has happened more than once, most recently in 2008 when Robert Kubica was right in the championship hunt with BMW Sauber and he went down from a potential champion to 4th place behind a mostly lackluster Kimi Raikonnen in that years standings because BMW put their efforts into designing the 2009 challenger which turned out to be a pig of a car for the most part. For competition sake I can only hope the last update they put on that Ferrari is a damn good one.

In other news:

There has been a ban on the Drag Reduction System being used through the famously flat out and daunting Eau Rouge and Radillon corners. (or turns 2 and 3 if this track was in Asia). While it would have been absolutely awesome to see the Red Bull's/Ferrari's/Mclaren's taking it flat out in qualifying with the wing open, sliding up the steep slope at 190+ mph I can see why it has been done. There are not only the issues of some of the cars not having enough mechanical grip to pull it off but some of the drivers not being physically able to do it. I mentioned in my last blog about D'Ambrosio being a driver I worry is going to have a huge accident. This is just the sort of measure that save us the fans from seeing the scary sight of a car barrel rolling on the tarmac run off areas.

HRT have amazingly confirmed a semblance of financial security! They have not come out and said they are as rich as Ferrari or the old Toyota or BMW teams but they have said fairly categorically said that they are solvent enough for the grid to be worried about their future participation. While this is often seen as good news because of the car's improved performance and my personal want of seeing as many cars on the grid as possible I would be inclined to take this with a pinch of salt especially considering some of the things that team owner Colin Kolles has said, which have included threatening to protest the results of the Monaco Grand Prix due to not having an exhaust blown diffuser, off throttle or otherwise.

Michael Schumacher officially celebrates 20 years since his Formula One Debut at this very track. In 1991 he shocked the world but putting the pretty and pretty awful 1991 Jordan 7th on the grid in a field of top experienced drivers that included Senna, Prost and driver steward for this weekend Nigel Mansell. He would win the race the following year defeating a dominant Nigel Mansell in the all conquering Adrian Newey designed Williams FW14B. He has the longest gap between his debut and his currently last race in F1 of any driver. Not even Ricardo Patrese or Rubens Barrichello (who has completed more races) have had such long spanning careers and this fact alone, like Barrichello's 300th Grand Prix at this track last year is a fact that is worthy of congratulations as is a mark of the fitness of the man.

There another driver change this year: Bruno Senna, previous HRT driver and nephew of the great man Aryton is replacing Nick 'MY CAR IS ON FIRE!' Heidfeld in the Renault team for the rest of the season (even though they apparently can only say for the next two races for legal reasons) making him the 28th driver that has competed in a race this season.

Senna could well have already been a world champion for all we know: He was snubbed from the 2009 Brawn in favor of the experience that Rubens Barrichello brought to the table. For all we know he could have been even faster in the Brawn than eventual Champion Button was and potentially beaten even Jenson to be champion. The HRT told us nothing about how good or otherwise this Senna could be. I for one am just glad that we get to see the Senna name in what has blatantly been designed to look a John Player Special liveried Lotus (depending on how you name the cars). That will be such an evocative sight if we ever get to witness him through the lens of an onboard camera.

Now onto the features of this race:

Spa is well known for having both high speed and high downforce elements so it is going to be practically impossible for any one car to be fastest on any one sector of the track in qualifying or the race.

Mclaren will probably be mighty in the first and third sectors thanks to the Mercedes engine, a good DRS system and the best/most reliable KERS system in the field whilst Red Bull will most likely be brilliant in the middle sector thanks to downforce needed in the great section involving Pouhon and the following Campus chicaine. Ferrari will fill their seemingly usual position of being second best everywhere and possibly being able to produce the all round best lap time. However what can not be ruled is the fast starting Mercedes Benz cars of Schumacher and Rosberg getting a good result down purely to the outrageous grunt of that engine and the ability of their DRS system.

The softs and mediums are the two dry weather tire compounds being brought to this race and the following race in Monza. The tire degredation of the Pirelli's is going to be down to something as simple but important as how each of the teams set up their suspensions and brake pressures to handle the fast bends of Eau Rouge, Pouhon and the mighty Stavelot and Blanchimont corners at the end of the lap.

The weather will almost certainly play a part. With the track being a spaced as it is with it's huge straights and long shallow angle corners through the Ardennes Forest it is almost expected that at some point one part of the circuit will be soaking wet and the other half would be bone dry. Last year it caught out the entire field into the Bus Stop chicane and the end of the lap and particularly race winner Hamilton and championship protagonist Alonso after the Les Combes chicane.

Now after many words which most of you may or may not have read here comes yet another probably incorrect top ten prediction for the Belgian Grand Prix:

1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Button
4. Vettel
5. Rosberg
6. Sutil
7. Kobayashi
8. Schuamcher
9. Di Resta
10. Senna

Retirements: Webber, D'Ambrosio, Trulli, Liuzzi

Thanks if you made it this far. See you on the Monday after the race.

Nick.

And onto the mid-season break

The Mid-season Break 2011: Where do we stand?

Sorry I have not blogged for ages. I have been a mixture of busy, having a minor emotional breakdown (which has been solved, no need to worry) and unable to accurately describe what I have wanted to say since Monaco-ish. But now we are at the mid-season break what I can do now is look at how the season is progressing and the undeniable and quite awesome way the championship challenge has truly come to life.

Briefly what has happened for those who are not paying true attention is that Sebastian Vettel has only managed to win 1 of the last 5 races, coming 2nd in 3 of them and 4th at his home race as I am about to summarise you lucky, lucky people:

• Jenson Button pulled off one of the greatest victories in F1 history in Montreal coming from last to first in less than 20 laps in a race which included collisions with both Lewis Hamilton on lap 6 and Fernando Alonso on lap 36, a puncture and a drive through as a result of the coming together with Alonso but was certified when he proved to be the first man able to overtake Mark Webber cleanly and an inspired Michael Schumacher to pressure the championship leader Vettel into a mistake on the final lap to take the win to become the third race winner of year after Vettel and Hamilton.

• Valencia was an unfortunately dull affair apart from a tense race long scrap between Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber for 2nd whilst the Mclaren's struggled to match that pace and Jaime Algersuari used a Sauber-esque 2-stopper to challenge the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg for large parts of the race on his way to 8th. Vettel took perhaps his most dominant win of the year extending has championship lead to 77 points. Or to put it another, more insightful way: BOOOOOOOOOOOOORINNGGGGGGGGG

• The British Grand Prix was also a race held in mixed conditions and was characterized by a relentlessly supreme drive by Alonso, a rare Red Bull pit error, a last lap war between Hamilton and Filliepe Massa and Red Bull ordering Webber not pass Vettel in the final laps but him ignoring it until the very final lap. Button retired after a wheel did not go on properly in his last pit stop. Vettel's championship lead would increase further thanks to this team order up to 80 points.

• The surprisingly cold and perhaps even more surprisingly dry race in the Efiel Mountains of the German Grand Prix saw a classic race-long three car scrap between Webber, Alonso and eventual victor Hamilton in a battle which saw see-sawing lap times, overtaking and Hamilton and Alonso using the weather to make a mockery of the undercut strategy. However this race will be most remembered for Vettel having a rather torrid time making mistakes including a spin at the Schumacher S and only getting ahead of Massa on a bodged last lap pit stop for prime tires. The championship lead went down to 77 points and questions were starting to be asked about the pace of the Red Bull in general.

• These questions were further asked on Sunday in the Hungarian Grand Prix. After a race that was uncharacteristically exciting which featured mixed conditions, differing strategies, plenty of overtaking, both Mclaren's running side by side at the front of the pack multiple times and a harsh yet just about understandable drive through penalty for Hamilton saw Button win again in mixed conditions ahead of Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber and Massa taking Vettel's championship lead up to 85, the biggest it has been all season.

Now with the three week break where the front three teams are on the grid is not easy to determine but here is how I see it:

• Red Bull still have inherent pace but are perhaps coming to the end of what they can do to develop the car to be within the regulations. That was proved by the fact for this race Vettel went back to a previous specification rear end which brought him closer to the Mclaren's and I think that is what gave him the confidence to earn pole position in Hungary. And with Spa, Monza and the new track in India looking like power circuits the end of the season could potentially be quite tense for the team that looked like it could not be beaten just 8 weeks ago.

• Mclaren have really turned that pig of a car around to be the fastest in wet/generally cooler conditions as well as the colossal straight-line speed thanks to the Mercedes engine with both Button and Hamilton driving probably better than they ever have and proving why they are both worthy former World Champions. With the two major power circuits coming up I expect them to be competitive again especially if the conditions are anything like they have been over the last 3 Grand Prix.

• Ferrari has a rather difficult problem. Fernando Alonso has been nothing short of awesome since his retirement in Canada keeping it with the Mclaren's and the Bull's being on the podium 5 out of the last 6 races stretching back to Monaco. I have no doubt that he can help to make the closing stages of the championship exciting alongside his *wink-wink* allies at Mclaren. The problem is Massa. He is struggling to stay on pace with the front five and is having many adventures. He often has his races ruined by getting jumped by the fast starting Mercedes-Benz's of Schumacher and Rosberg. While he has proved he is a good attacking driver he needs to get his starts right to get involved in the main scrap so he can help Alonso and Mclaren hold those charging Bull's back.

Now without wishing to leave out the rest of the field here is a run-down of where everyone else lies:

• The Mercedes-Benz cars are electric off the starting line and have tremendous straight-line speed and the best DRS in the field. Unfortunately the car is fundamentally flawed in its design. It is harsh on its tires and has poor rear fundamental down-force compared to where they wanted/expected to be, which I believe to be exacerbated by the DRS system. With Schumacher pushing and getting into scrapes and Rosberg seemingly going through the motions this season is coming quite close to a write-off for them. That said they are comfortably a second or two ahead of the cars behind them in terms of race pace so they are in a battle all their own to see which one of them finishes just behind Massa in WDC.

• Renault have dropped off the boil. After looking like genuine challengers at the start of the year they have dropped right into the midfield instead of near the front where they were earlier in the year. Petrov has done rather well and certainly earned his 2012 seat in my book. But Heidfeld (a driver I make no bones about being a fan of) has had a torrid time since his podium in Malaysia especially after his car lit up the track in a bad way this past race. With Bruno Senna, a man who has not had a fair crack in F1 yet as far I am concerned, looking over his shoulder, and with former Renault failure Roman Grosjean looking better and better every time he continues to dominate in GP2, he needs to up his game or start looking for another place to drive, which could well be outside of F1. One can speculate what a fit and fired up Robert Kubica might have been able to achieve but i'm not sure he could do much more than get closer to Mercedes.

• Williams have been extremely poor. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Barrichello has gone from being a bit of a battering ram to being largley non-existant whereas Maldonado has not had the chance to show what he is capable of the way he did at Monaco (drivers circuit as we all know) on a consistent basis. This season I think they are already looking at as a write off and the switch to Renault Engines and the personnel shuffle for 2012 cannot come soon enough for the former Constructors champions.

• Force India are improving by leaps and bounds at this point in the season. Di Resta bounced back from a difficult period to get his best finish in F1 in Hungary and Sutil has had a succession of good drives which have given a potential chance to challenge Sauber and Renault in the Constructors this year. With Nico Hulkenberg as the reserve driver they have a very good problem in terms of drivers for next year. I can potentially see either one of them in a Mercedes-Benz or a Mclaren before too much longer.

• Sauber are in a strange situation. Perez and Kobayashi are driving well on the whole but what is stopping them being potentially up with Mercedes is this persistence of doing less tire stops than anyone else. The Ferrari engine is serving them well and neither and backwards in coming forwards should the mood take them so they should be doing better than they are. They are locked in a battle with Force India and should be 6th or possibly even 5th in the constructors championship purely on the strength of the already re-signed driver line-up provided they become a bit more ambitious with their tires and unlock more of the natural performance of the car which they have shown in Monaco, Australia and Malaysia.

• Toro Rosso are officially in a bit of a pickle. Both Algersuari and Buemi have picked their game up immensely. Another Ferrari powered car that is kind on its tires gives them a race strategy and occasionally the raw pace to finish in the points. With Ricciardo proving himself in the HRT it is difficult to work out who is going to be driving for them next year and also it begs the question what would happen if Webber were to go against the speculation and leave Red Bull at the end of the year. Personally I’d put Algersuari into the Red Bull as he has shown more raw ability than Buemi since he has been in the team but I do not think Buemi has lost his place in Toro Rosso so like Force India they have a good but perhaps unwanted problem with drivers.

• Team Lotus have officially arrived in the midfield. With Trulli and his new power-steering system and Kovalinen continuing to impress with his driving I would put the car at a maximum of half a second off the back of the scrap for effectively 9th/10th places. They may have over promised what the car could do at the start of the year but they are starting to claw their way towards the pack and despite having a team full of people that annoy you (according to my good friend Edward Price) they are a team I hope go on to do great things.

• HRT are perhaps the shock of the year for a number of reasons. They are quite close to Virgin, beating D'Ambrosio at a number of races, staying vaguely reliable and getting within the 107% at almost every track. Ricciardo is proving more and more he deserves a much faster car whilst Liuzzi is proving why I think he should not have been in F1 this year. He is already losing to a man who has competed in only 3 Grand Prix and a few Toro Rosso practice sessions compared to his relatively veteran 73 Grand Prix starts. If they can get a car designed in time and test it we hopefully stop making jokes about HRT being no faster than GP2 cars at the start of a season.

• Virgin need to use a wind tunnel and that is a fact. Timo Glock is a much better driver than the car he has and should have be in the Mercedes instead of Rosberg or even Schumacher (as much as it pains me to admit it). All he has to do is beat the HRT and it is a successful weekend for him seeing as the Virgin is now about 3/4 of a second slower than the Lotus and there is no way of him catching them since they appear to have given up on this car. Hopefully this technical relationship with Mclaren will see a marked improvement next year from the first new team to get a place on the 2010 grid. And I am worried about D'Ambrosio. Anyone who saw his pitlane spin in Hungary will know why I say this: I am scared he is going to try going through Eau Rouge flat-out and it will probably result in a horrible accident. He should never have been in the car in the first place and he is showing it more and more by losing to at least one HRT on a regular basis. It is a shame that Adam Carroll didn't get the chance or Lucas Di Grassi getting his chance several years sooner because they are more deserving of an F1 chance than he was.

So with the summer break in progress there are still questions which need answering in the world of F1:

• Can Vettel keep his championship lead AND not hit anyone whilst he is trying to pass them as he done fairly well recently?

• Can the old rivals continue to work sort of together to catch the Bull's like they have been doing?
• Can Force India catch and overhaul Sauber and have a stab at Renault in the Constructors Championship?
• Will Liuzzi ever go away?
• Will Martin Brundle betray the BBC and move to SKY as their lead commentator?
• Will Mark Webber stay with Red Bull for 2012 or leave in a team-order based huff?
• Will Sauber go for a conventional race strategy to show how much raw pace that a lot of people think the car has?
• With it being another Tilke-drome will the Indian Grand Prix produce a good race or be a massive let-down?
• Will David Coulthard ever pronounce Vettel's name correctly?
• Will we see Karun Chandok and Karthikien at the Indian Grand Prix for purely sponsorship reasons?

All that and more in my next blog, which should hopefully be written on the Thursday before the Belgian Grand Prix.

So for now I say adios and leave you with the top ten in the championship and an early prediction for the top ten in the next race:

Drivers Championship standings (Top 10)

1. Vettel: 234
2. Webber: 149
3. Hamilton: 146
4. Alonso: 145
5. Button: 134
6. Massa: 70
7. Rosberg: 48
8. Heidfeld: 34
9. Petrov: 32
10. Schumacher: 32

Belgian Grand Prix Prediction (Top 10)

1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Button
4. Vettel
5. Massa
6. Webber
7. Schumacher
8. Kobayashi
9. Rosberg
10. Algersuari

Monaco - Red Bull got so f***ing lucky.

I fear I must apologise for my lack of Blogs from Malaysia through to Spain I have not much time to do them and other things have come up with made it not possible for me to blog as regularly and as extensively as I'd like. And for that I apologise again and I will continue to try my best in bringing you epically long winded and dull but (i hope) loveable blogs.

It was one of the all time great races. It was had everything. Glory, disaster, magnificent driving, talking points to stretch back years to come and it all came in the 2 square miles of the most glamorous place on earth. The 2011 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Sebastian Vettel should have been remembered in my mind as one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

Before we do anything else lets look at the top ten as it stands of writing:

1. Vettel
2. Alonso
3. Button
4. Webber
5. Kobayashi
6. Hamilton
7. Sutil
8. Heidfeld
9. Barrichello
10. Buemi

Lets look at the positives, before going into the inevitable negatives:

• Jenson Button drove a better race than he ever has, not put a foot wrong and had a potentially brilliant strategy ruined only by circumstance.

• Vettel and Alonso overcame problems including slow pit stops, chaotic accidents and very slow out-laps to also put in great drives and were lucky not to be canon fodder for Button on lap 73 or so.

• Schumacher and Hamilton and as extremely entertaining battle, 2 brave overtakes and fair fighting which in the end would be pivotal to the rest of the action in the race, for better or for worse.
• Kobayshi had his best ever race finish and finishing in front of Lewis Hamilton's Mclaren.

• Good to hear that Petrov and Perez are doing fine and I fully expect to see them both fit and ready for the next race in Canada.

• There was plenty of overtaking, in places on the track where you would not neccesarily see it normally, for example Tabacc (Massa on Rosberg and Hamilton on Petrov), Grand Hotel (Schumacher on Hamilton and Rosberg) and even Mirabeau (Kobyashi on Sutil).

• And I must say, magnificent coverage and even better commentary from Brundle and DC.

It was a race of high drama, massive danger and even sights that Red Bulls's pit crew are not unflapable. The pit stops in general were not great if your name was not Jenson Button. There were mistakes and long stops all down the field and it really did shuffle the pack around in an exciting way which made guessing the result of the race virtually impossible. Eddie Jordan (who normally is a first class clown in my book) described as slack and I really think it was that but it did give us some great on track action.

However I fear that I have to get into the negatives as unfortunately they did outweigh the positives in the race:

First of all the two great showdowns of the weekend were taken away from us. The respective incidents of Perez and then the huge pile up in the swimming pool both brought out red flags. While they both appeared to be the right move it to took the opportunity for 2 great fights between Red Bull, Mclaren and Ferrari away from us and let luck fall into the lap of the championship leader. If Hamilton had been able to do his run at the end of Q3 I really do think he will have taken the front row and that would have given both him and Button a great chance at a Mclaren 1-2 but it was not to be and in the race Button, who comfortably the fastest man on the track due to safety car caused by Glock's and Schumacher's retirements the red flag from the messy accident at the Swimming Pool meant he could not captalise on Alonso's and/or Vettel's tires that looked like they were due to just give up on either one of them any second.

Then there was sheer quantity of what I would describe as dangerous driving. Rather go into them in full detail I shall give a brief summary to the way I read each moment:

• Paul Di Resta hitting Algersuari into Mireabeau: The penalty was fair as even though he was just lapping the Toro Rosso he should have been that agressive into the hairpin and it really did cost him points.

• Hamilton hitting Massa at the same place, it was difficult as Massa did cause an avoidable when he went down Mark Webber's inside as well but the ensuing contact and the fact the whole incident ended up with Massa's retirement I have to say all in all it was fair for Hamilton to get the drive through.

• Kobyashi's moment with Sutil was a racing incident and it was as simple as Kobyashi going in too deep and forcing Sutil a bit wide but there was no investigation involved and rightly so.

• The accident involving Sutil, Petrov, Algersuari and Hamilton was a big one as Sutil's puncture caused Hamilton to slow down and Algersuari go into the back of Hamilton before Petrov followed him and nearly injured himself.

• And finally we have Hamilton and Maldonado. Maldonado simply turned in on Hamilton after not expect the Mclaren driver to be there. It was a racing incident and the 20 second penalty even though it did not make a difference to the overall result seeing as he was the last man on the lead lap I don't see that as being just by the stewards.

To continue on with the un-just penalty I don't mind that Hamilton was fairly miffed. What he said after the race was very wrong. I know he used the Ali-G quote as a joke but the fact he was so angry and labelled the race stewards (Alan McNish being the driver representative) as jokes shows that despite he still one of the best racing drivers in the world and in realistic terms the only person left with a hope in hell of catching the Vettel/Red Bull combination in the championship race he needs to calm and not let his emotions get the better of him or otherwise he'll lose a lot of fans and let the haters (whom probably have enough ammunition already) to get closer to being proved and considering his is my favorite driver I just wish that he'd have thought about what he said because now even though he cleared the air with the Marshall's as I was writing this he has given himself a reputation as being a bit of a whinny little turd.

However the most GRRRRR worthy thing about the race came when the Red Flag came out and the cars were allowed to to be repaired and tires were allowed to be changed. This took away the titanic crap that Button, Vettel and Alonso could have had over the last few laps and potentially given the more deserving podium of Button from Alonso from Vettel. Red Bull made the mistake of putting on the wrong tires but it enabled them to be the first team to legally (not counting Perez in Melbourne) do a 1 stop race. It should not have worked as his tires would have 'fallen off the cliff' in a few laps. Vettel is getting Schumacher esque luck in that Red Bull it is that, as opposed to only having the 2nd fastest car in terms of race pace, that is going to win him the World Championship I think.

Before we leave lets look at the top 5 in both the drivers and constructors championships:

Drivers:

1. Vettel: 143 points
2. Hamilton: 85
3. Webber: 79
4. Button: 76
5. Alonso: 69

Constructors:

1. Red Bull Renault: 222
2. Mclaren Mercedes: 161
3. Ferrari: 93
4. Renault: 50
5. Mercedes: 40

Thank you if you have made it this far and as I like to do I would like to leave you with a thought which will not please any of you Hamilton haters but it is true:

Hamilton has always been the fastest driver when it comes to racing at Montreal, he has not once been beaten for pace and if he were not an utter clown in 2008 he would have never been beaten at Montreal.

Album Review - Sum 41 Screaming Bloody Murder

I'm just going to come out and explain my conclusion after listening to this album for this review: 'Screaming Bloody Murder', Sum 41's belated follow up to 2007's incredibly lacklustre 'Underclass Hero' is one of the most unsettling, difficult to listen to but somehow utterly brilliant records I have come across for some time. To explain my logic behind this further the lyrics for the album were written in the middle of what was apparently (I don't know first hand obviously) an incredibly messy and painful divorce between vocalist Deryck Whibley and Pop Rock star Avril Lavinge and this gave rise to some different musical directions that this massive album lurches around towards taking the listener on an uncomfortable, bumpy and extremely emotional 15 of some of the most well crafted songs I've heard in a very long time. The humour and light hearted nature of some of the early work, which was only somewhat present in the previous album has completely gone and this changes Sum 41 into a totally different, more mature beast as a band.

While it can be seen to be a similar musical deviancy Green Day went on with '21st Century Breakdown' and MCR went on with 'The Black Parade' it is not only more honest but also more interesting. While two aforementioned bands went on about concepts bigger than (in my view) could really handle with songs which seemed to be strained and false, Sum 41 stay with song lyrics they know, problems of the heart with an added bite of post divorce bitterness and somehow this makes the songs on the whole all the better. There really is a stunning mix of theatrical pop punk in songs like 'Holy Images of Lies', beautifully crafted ballad's like 'What Am I To Say' to the simpler yet equally spectacular Rockier tracks like 'Sick Of Everyone'.

Whibley is, in my mind at the very least, the best of the pop punk vocalists and with this album he shows off his talent to blending to many different song types. His powerful yet emotionally strained high notes in the chorus to the title track and the wonderful melodies in piano led track 'Crash' really does show how he can put above his peers in bands like Green Day and even the reuniting Blink 182. That said I would not consider this band a pop punk band after this record because o the style. The closest band I can find in terms of a record like this is actually a band like Biffy Clyro or the smaller but still fairly epic Twin Atlantic.

This album is the first to feature new lead guitar player Tom Thacker but his influence on the album is not felt as surprisingly Whibley, who does not have a reputation as the best guitar player that there is recorded all the guitar parts and some of, while not especially inventive of ground breaking do take a lot of good technique and that makes his lead guitar work, not only better than his lead work on 'Underclass Hero', but also one of the highlights of the record as a whole.

Album opener 'Reason To Believe' starts like it's falling down into a nightmare. It's a good precursor to the rest of the album and it helps that the track really is as simple as simple can get. The simple riff in the opening minute or so of the song sets the mood of the album but cleverly does not set up for what the rest of the album is going to deliver at all. It is the perfect opener for this album especially with the juxtaposition of the heavy riffs in the beginning and the piano and acoustic guitar in the last minute of the song.

Title track 'Screaming Bloody Murder' is perhaps the first sense of theater as it starts and ends with piano and clean-ish guitar tones but neither end gives you any evidence of the massive song that explodes in the middle. From the very heavy guitars to the spectacular vocals and the utterly fabulous break down and a very commendable guitar solo the song is a fantastic choice as a single and one of highlights of the album.

'Skumf*k' is one of the more surprising songs on the album. The title would give the impression of a fast angry punk number but it is actually more of a complete emotional powder-keg of a song which ends as the faster punk track. It's a track with multiple personality disorder but it works with that sense of epic theater within a bigger work.

'Time For You To Go' is a more traditional Sum 41 song in construction but don't be fooled into think that it is a happy go lucky song as the relatively cheerful sounding song hides a dark lyrical underbelly much like Biffy Clyro managed to do on their album 'Puzzle'.

'Jessica Kill' is a simple song, perhaps the simplest of the album. It is actually fairly similar to Chuck's 'Angels With Dirty Faces' in terms of construction and the fact the song in it's instrumental passages is actually rather heavy. It's an absolute mosh-pit number with particularly commendable drum parts.

'What Am I To Say' is a beautiful ballad. The uses of effects in this song do not cloud the overall effect but add to it really effectively. Although musically there is nothing to individually be excited about it is a case of a song that is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Now the next 3 songs are actually part of a greater work which was the first material played live from the album called 'A Dark Road Out of Hell'. To review this properly it does have to be seen as one whole work. Part 1 is 'Holy Images Of Lies', a disjointed, slightly mental song featuring fast piano parts and a fantastic set of modulations in the final 4 seconds or so and about as bleak as a band can get in terms of personal lyrics. The best bit about this song is the seamless segue into Part 2 'Sick Of Everyone' which is a much more simple and riff based number with a particularly strange verse and strong vocal performance. However the highlight is the final part 'Happiness Machine' which uses a massive grunge based verse to a largely acoustic verse which builds into a spectacular D minor guitar based harmony before it reaches a rather bombastic conclusion with the heavy guitars followed by the radio effect piano and vocal harmonies over the lyrics 'So here I stand at the end of a dark road out of hell'.

'Crash' is another well constructed, beautiful ballad. This one in a way is the most positive of the album as it seems to show some good memories of Whilbey's marriages but the in the end the song ends with the line 'But It ain't gonna happen' which proves the song was another obviously emotionally draining lyric writing session.

'Blood In My Eyes' is structured like a traditional song in terms of it's building blocks but in terms of tempo changes and even vocal styles it is rather disjointed. From the really heavy main riff to soft guitar based vocals and the stadium sized chorus it's a song that can very easily easy catch a listener not paying proper attention off guard. I like that about the song.

'Baby Don't You Wanna' is a weird one. It could almost sound like a track by Avril Lavinge with the simple, rather happy chord structures and vocal melodies but this song a bitter song which seems to be about the process of the divorce. I must say this is not my favorite song on the album but in way it is actually the most intelligent on the album.

'Back To Where I Belong' is a song which is really all about it's chorus. It's a heavy, triumphant song that recognizes the dark place where the rest of the album has been and shows that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A very appropriate album closer drawing to a close this roller coaster of ride by a band that has challenged any notions of music they've written in the past and even more so with the short ending track 'Exit Song' keeping the musical idea of the previous track and showing a resignation of the situation described in the rest of the album and the effect of the major chord is a sign of hope possibly, but I could be reading into that too much.

You already know that I love this album. There is not one best song but I have to say the 3 part epic 'Dark Road Out Of Hell' is absolutely amazing and the best thing the band has ever produced. It might be very difficult to listen to throughout and it might a massive departure from the fun loving band they used to be but it has changed Sum 41 from just another Pop Punk band into a band finally realizing their potential as a band that have gone on to bigger and better things. The only words I can think of to properly describe this album are Unhinged but Bewitching.

Just how fast is the Red Bull? And other points of interest from OZ 2011.

Firstly I must say sorry for the late post. I have been at my laptop properly since I watched the Grand Prix. I have no excuse.

The Race:

The Australian Grand Prix happened on the weekend. It was not the most spectacular race in the history of the world but it definitely was not dull. It had a lot of intriguing elements, some real surprises, some big battles, especially between Button/Massa, Webber/Alonso/Petrov and Buemi/Force India, and a sign of things to come in the season. It showed that there are good things to come this season, many things including some unexpectedly quick cars and some equally unexpectedly talented rookies, which really does make me optimistic for the next 18 races. However the main question the F1 world is asking is just how dominant the RB7 actually is?

The Front Runners:

Vettel won the race comfortably without his KERS system. That much is perfectly clear it is just about the fastest car on the grid. But Vettel's dominance was not a simple as it ended up. Hamilton got an appalling start and lost a few seconds to Vettel in the opening lap after having to deal with Webber's car. Once Hamilton was safe from Webber he would go on to reel Vettel in, sometimes at over a second a lap till he was about 1.8 behind the Red Bull, just highlighting how much of a miracle the revised Mclaren is. After Hamilton damaged his floor after the first stop the result from second position back was not really in doubt (apart from him leaving the track but I will speak about that piece of controversy later on).

But the interesting thing about the question I posed earlier is the performance of Webber. He was not very fast all day, would have lost out to Jenson if it were not for his (unfortunately deserved) drive-through and did lose out not only to Fernando Alonso's Ferrari but more outrageously, Vitaly Petrov's Renault. Petrov and Alonso both drove great races, Petrov after a grest start, Alonso after a terrible one and making a 3 stop strategy work to is advantage. They both were faster than Webber for the best part of the race and those two and Button were both faster at any point in the race then Webber in the sister Red Bull.

For Webber, Button, Massa and Petrov's team-mate Heidfeld and to a certain extent it was humiliating, as they were all battered in relative terms by their team-mates. However the humiliation was worse for Webber as not only did Webber take one more pit-stop than his team-mate who was a second a lap faster than him all day but he was beaten not only by the Ferrari and the Renault but was not as fast as a car that, until Sunday in any form, had not completed a race distance.

So really all I can give as an answer to this question is: In the hands of Vettel the Red Bull is scary fast, the fastest car in the grid and it puts him in a great position in a potential championship fight with Hamilton in that revised Mclaren. However so far the Red Bull is not even as theoretically fast as the Ferrari in Webber's hand and that can only mean than Webber's career could have peaked and therefore he is not going to challenge for the Drivers crown.

It does genuinely seem to me that in terms of front runners Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso are on another level in terms of their ability to drive their cars quickly and not just quickly, more quickly than their team mates. I am seriously thinking that is going to be a 3 way fight for the championship much like the fight between Piquet, Prost and Mansell in 1986.

The Midfield Runners:

Now it is not just those three and the coming of age for Russian Vitaly Petrov who deserve praise from that race. Aside from the disqualification Sauber had an awesome race. Kobayashi was quick and made a 2 stop race work really well from and I (as most of the other F1 fans) is looking forward to what he can do this season. But the real star of the whole race (in my opinion) was Mexican Sergio Perez. Not only did he get to overtake Vettel during the race but he also managed to do something which even Pirelli thought to be impossible: Start the race on hard tires, and finish on the super softs and make only the one tire stop. I'm not sure if the probably illegal rear wing had anything to do with that but that has to be one of the best debut races since Jacques Villeneuve in 1996 or Lewis Hamilton in 2007.

Other good races came from Buemi in the much improved Toro Rosso and both Sutil and Di Resta doing well in the not particularly fast Force India. I expect a big battle between Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams, Force India and the Green Lotus if that gets it's reliability sorted out.

Mercedes were not as fast as I had expected them to be but in terms of the race they did not receive a fair crack. After Algersuari hit the back of Schumacher damaging his suspension and Barrichello hit the side of Rosberg possibly damaging something in the engine the car did not really get a chance to shine and it amazingly puts Mercedes 11th in the constructors championship as they were the first team to have a double retirement. I do not doubt that they will get more luck in Malaysia and the long side by side straights will show the hand of the fastest car in a straight line on the grid.

Barrichello seemed to behave more like a rookie than the most experienced driver in history all throughout the weekend. He spent almost as much time in the gravel trap as he did on track and in the race attempted what can only be described as an overly ambitious overtaking move on Rosberg and eventually both drivers paid the price for Barrichello's blind ambition. The Williams does not look a fast car so maybe him and Maldonado will have to work hard in order to get that Williams ahead in the midfield scrap but I think the team would rather score points through attrition than see the teams lead driver attempt to race into the points and the wreck the car scoring no points and racking up repair bills, which is what it appeared to be all he was doing.

...And Bringing up the rear:

I was willing to give them the benefit of doubt that last season was just unlucky at that they could pull themselves together and prove that they deserved to be in F1...that is until I saw the joke of a driver line up, the fact I don't think the Car is any different to last year's just with a new paint job, the fact that despite the season starting two weeks late the first anybody saw of the car properly was with 3 minutes left of Friday Practise to the fact that Liuzzi was 1.5 seconds of the 107% time and his team mate was a full 5 seconds slower than the 107% time which all drivers, even rookie D'Ambrosio in the Virgin managed to qualify under and the fact that they were rightfully told that they would not be allowed to race as they would just get in everyone else way. I want to see all the teams race in F1 but not all teams race where it does genuinely seem that one team is just taking the piss out of the sport. They should be shown the F1 door and then we can have a grid of cars and drivers who all deserve to race.

The drivers championship looks as such:

1. Vettel. 25

2. Hamilton. 18

3. Petrov. 15

4. Alonso. 12

5. Webber. 10

6. Button. 8

7. Massa. 6

8. Buemi. 4

9. Sutil. 2

10. Di Resta. 1

And the constructors championship looks as such:

1. Red Bull Infiniti. 35

2. Mclaren Mercedes. 26

3. Ferrari. 18

4. Renault. 15

5. Toro Rosso Ferrari. 4

6. Force India Mercedes. 3

Next up there is Malaysia. Despite it's tough corners I believe this to be a power circuit and it should be interesting to see the following aspects:

1) Will Red Bull use KERS?

2) Will Sauber be re-instated into the Australian Grand Prix results?

3) Can Mercedes get themselves into the points fights?

4) Can Petrov keep his form up?

5) Will Hispania get into the race?

I shall be discussing this and other points of interest in a couple of weeks.

Signing off,

Nick

Quick Edit: Sauber have unfortunately decided not to appeal their DQ which is a shame for the great drives they both put in.

Here we go. It's Melbourne time!

Thankfully ladies and gentlemen it is that time once again. It is very possibly one of the most exciting weekends of the year for me as well as many other F1 fans old and young. We are very quickly closing in on the first race of the highly anticipated first race of the 2011 Formula One World Championship. And due to the circumstances in Bahrain the season starts where it always should do as long as it in on the calender:

The Albert Park track in Melbourne, Australia.

With Martin Brundle and DC doing the commentary the race should have plenty of helpful insight from two of Britain's best servants to the sport. I just hope that DC will be able to keep his very obvious support for Red Bull in check to provide unbiased commentary. Mind you why am I getting my hopes up cause everyone knows both Eddie Jordan and Brundle (as much as he the best sports journalist in the country) are quite anti-Mclaren and anti-Schumacher for their own reasons but they have to put it aside as it gets in the way of the usually sensible (more Brundle in terms of sensible-ness) analysis that they have been giving for the last two years.

Last year's race will probably go down as one of the best Australian Grand Prix that there has ever been if not the very best. Vettel lead from pole until his break failure on lap 26 but via an accident between Alonso, Button and Schumacher at turn one, Hamilton beginning to bring his massively brave and exciting overtaking abilities on the likes of Massa and especially Nico Rosberg, to Button's brilliant tire call which won him the race it was drama all the way through as a mixture of the weather and some amazing driving answered the critics who slammed the new regulations after Bahrain and kicked started what would turn into the greatest season in the history of the sport.

There are many things to talk about leading into the race. I mean even before we get into specific cars and drivers we have to look at the unpredictability of the tires and the track. With rain forecast throughout the weekend we could be seeing a lot of changing of tires and brave calls which leads to potential for great strategic calls in the same breath as unnecessary crashes from any driver on the grid.

Then there is the extra question of the degradation of the Pirelli tires even in dry conditions should the weather incline to stay that way. 3/4 stops could be the norm for the season in dry conditions, there is no telling what it could be in changeable conditions. Furthermore with Albert Park having one of the bumpier and more abrasive track surfaces on the calender the tires still relatively unknown we could see the race either won by the driver willing to make one more tire stop but be faster and potentially running the tires, like a Hamilton or a Webber or the driver willing to try and make one less stop but not going too slowly to lose ground, potentially like a Button or an Alonso.

We finally get to see the moveable rear wings in action along with KERS. We will find out whether it makes the race more open and competitive or falsify it to a degree. There has been no showing of it in hand to hand combat so all we can do is sit and wait to see what could potentially happens on the pit straight or on the run to turn 13 for most conclusive and definitive evidence.

But perhaps the most interesting element of the season at this point comes from Mclaren. They are making radical changes to a car that has had problems being fast and or reliable in testing. The car was probably one of the most radically different on the grid to begin with and if these changes come off we could be looking and a decently fast and extremely interestingly designed and engineered car being piloted by the two most differing drivers on the grid in terms of driving style.

Then there is what I imagine is going to be the fight at this first race. Both reigning champion Vettel and Ferrari No.1 Alonso are quite a way ahead of their respective team-mates in terms of (in my view) driver ability and overall pace in the pre-season testing that has taken place. They will probably be the two fastest overall drivers in race trim if the cars are set up properly.

However over a single lap it is impossible to ignore the massive elephant in the room which turned up at the last testing session in Barcelona: The Mercedes, in both Rosberg's and his Schumacher-ness's hands was mentally fast on it's qualifying style runs with Schumacher setting a time of 1.22.3, about 3 tenths of a second faster than Alonso with the same tires and same fuel and Rosberg was right on Alonso's tail in terms of pace only having one qualifying simulations. And on top of that apparently the Merc is kind to its tires, has good reliability and is not that much slower in terms of race pace than either the Red Bull or the Ferrari and possibly very important this weekend, has so far had the most and fastest wet weather running. I can see Mercedes gaining pole and keeping Alonso and Vettel honest in the race and, reliability pending, a potential victory for either Schumi or Rosberg.

There are only two other cars that will be worth a particular look in detial in this race even more than all the others:

The Renault was fastest in the first pre-season test and showed consistent race pace throughout. They claim that the car is fast enough to challenge right up at the front on a more consistent basis than last year's miracle worker, the R30, could do in the hands of Kubica. That may well be the case but there is the doubt of the raw pace of stand in Nick Heidfeld and the still inexperienced Vitaly Petrov in comparison to the man who I keep saying is the best driver currently in the sport in Kubica. They have to step up to the mark in Kubica's place and it will be very interesting to see if they are up for the fight.

The HRT as it has had no testing of any kind and with the re-introduction of the dreaded 107% qualifying rule there could be cause for concern for the car which is easily going to be the slowest car in the field (for those that don't know all qualifying laps in the first session have to be within 107% of the fastest lap in the first session otherwise (unless special circumstances apply) they will be seen as too slow in a race situation and not allowed to take the start).

Now last year what I did was do a prediction for every driver for qualifying and the race and even though I never got it quite right I will attempt to do a similar type of thing again this year but only for the top ten in the race as it was previously very long winded. I will also mention important retirements that I think could happen.

1) Vettel

2) Alonso

3) Schumacher

4) Rosberg (I think he could get his first pole this weekend.

5) Heidfeld

6) Hamilton

7) Button

8) Sutil

9) Petrov

10) Algersuari

Retirements: Maldonado, Perez, Di Resta, Massa and Trulli.

Now as we know the midfield is going to be chaotic and there should be at least a couple of accidents I should know by know I’ll more than likely be wrong but all I can do know is wait and see. I do predict that this race is going to be fantastic and I’ll make sure I’ll be back on Sunday evening after probably watching the race twice with my verdict.

See you all later on in the weekend.

Signing off, Nick.

And so pre-season testing is drawing to a close.

Well it must be close to the 2011 Formula One Season as Hispania have come out with very possibly the most attractive car on the grid (and more attractive than last year's Virgin racing car).

And so with one day of testing to go and the Australian Grand Prix I am going to have a look at the car and driver line-ups as they stand at this point and make as informed and potentially accurate prediction as I can make on how I think the season might go.

As it is only correct I will start with Webber and Vettel in the Red Bull RB7 Infiniti:

The car is an Adrian Neway design. So we know for sure it's fast in almost every setting, apart from perhaps the rebadged Renault engine so it is fairly obvious to me that they will be going for the championship. It looks like a similar working car to the RB6 and if that is the case, in terms of all around ability it will be very difficult, almost impossible to stop on certain tracks. And even worse news for people who dislike Red Bull, it seems to have got the whole reliability problem sorted out. Expect them to be right at the front for most of the season.

Sebastian Vettel is the reigning world champion as you all well know. And as a pattern that I have noticed on the whole in Grand Prix racing, after drivers win their first championships there is a new flair and entertainment to the champions driving style. Many people exhibited this, Alain Prost in 1986, Nelson Piquet in 1982, Alan Jones in 1981, Keke Rosberg in 1983 and even Michael Schumacher in 1995. He will hopefully become a more exciting driver to watch and prove that he is worthy of the world champion tag. If this is true it could lead to a potential problem retaining his crown. Last year he had a few messy moments of contact in the season that made winning the championship more of a struggle than it needed to be: Turkey, Spa and Silverstone to be more specific, all races he could have obtained at least podium places or potentially race victories. If he can add the flamboyancy in his driving and remove that element of petulance then I genuinely think we could be looking at a total package as a driver not seen since Schumacher in his glory days in the early 2000's.

On the other hand, I think Mark Webber will have something to prove after being tipped heavily to take the championship since he won in Spain and Monaco in consecutive races. On the whole last year he drove better than he ever has, including some great drives at Monaco, Silverstone and Turkey (until Vettel stuck his nose in). However the end to his season he spent being outclassed by Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel. This season I believe is his last chance, but it's not a realistic chance like it was in 2010 he needs to drive with all the verve and quality of former Aussie Champions Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones but eliminate the mistakes we saw in Australia, Korea and Abu Dhabi last year.

Now onto the car that has garnered the most interest into the paddock: The Mclaren Mp4/26 Mercedes.

I have only just spotted that Mclaren seem to have a policy of using a different designer ever year since Adrian Neway left in the mid 2000's. However the designer they have used to make this car appears to have got it wrong. It is loaded with reliability problems for a kick off which is something Mclaren have not had a problem with since the awfully fragile 2005 car. Then there is the car itself. Yes it will be fast on straights even without KERS of the adjustable rear wings thanks to the colossal grunt in the Mercedes engine but it seems to be a pig of a driver. I will not go as far as Martin Brundle did and call it a mess but it does not seem ready to win races or compete where driver's the caliber they have working for them deserve to be.

Lewis Hamilton is the top driver on the grid this year and I make no bones about saying that. He may be and arrogant whining ten year old boy and as such unpopular and sometimes making daft decisions but from watching every race he has ever competed in I can say no other driver has more consistently kept me on the edge of my seat bar Schumacher when I first started watching. He is, good or bad, exciting, daring and completely different to almost everyone else on the grid. He had some of his worst drives (Monza) and in my opinion his 2 best (Melbourne and Spa) last season but still kept a car that was not worthy of being in the championship race in it right until the flag in the last race. Give him a working car and he is always challenging there or there abouts.

Jenson Button is like Prost to Hamilton's Senna. He is the more mature, elder statesmen showing everyone that they do not always need to drive everywhere like a deranged lunatic to be fast. However it doesn't mean he can not do that. As I'm sure some of you know Jenson is not actually my favorite driver. While he is smooth, fast, and at points incredibly insightful, more so than Hamilton and is definitely a deserving World Champion, I have never been especially interested in watching him drive as I find his style not especially interesting. I think to become more complete is to perhaps show some of the out and out balls showed by Hamilton and begin to throw the car around a bit more, risk a bit more.

Now onto the latest Ferrari: The F150 Italia.

I could not tell you anything exciting about the car as like the Red Bull it is like an evolution of supremely balanced 2010 car and looks set to be title contender. So I won't waste your time coming up with interesting facts.

Fernando Alonso... I can't say enough bad things about my personal opinion of the man. He is arrogant, uncaring, rude and any other name I can come up with but there is no escaping the fact he was awesome at points last year and will probably go down in F1 history as one of the greats due to his pace, his bravery and his raw brain power behind the wheel. He needs to calm down his temper sometimes and really just keep quiet about things that may not go on his way and go on being one of the best drivers in the world. I see him potentially as the pre-season tip for the drivers championship.

Fillipe Massa needs to up his game or he could find himself out of the car next year. He is by no means a slow driver but he is not very consistent, slightly accident prone and often not able to keep the pace that Alonso and was the only reason that Ferrari did not come second, or even win the constructors championship. As a driver I do like him but I really do think it is time to get to the way he was driving in 08, where he was a lot better than Raikonnen then Massa can give Alonso a run for him money like he did in Bahrain, Australia and most especially Germany.

Now onto Mercedes MGP W02, and today I do believe they changed the game.

Last year's car was inconsistent. It would be the second/third fastest car at some tracks but at some it would also be no faster than Williams, Force India and Petrov's Renault and be stuck in the midfield. However this year's car has just received a massive boost. The updates the team brought today to the last Barcelona test have increased the car's pace ridiculously. Michael Schumacher topped the time sheets with a qualifying simulation. Glory Run I hear you say? Fernando Alonso did a glory run and he was 3 and half tenths of a second slower. That car has amazing one lap pace and while it's not as fast as the Ferrari or the RBR on long runs it's not too far away and at the start of the season at least, they will be taking the fight to those two and I can see it challenging throughout the season for the constructors championship.

Nico Rosberg is a talented driver. He is very fast over the single lap and has the potential to be aggressive and with the team seemingly giving him all the weird and unconventional stratergies it is very clear to me that he will spend at least the early part of the season getting high points finishes and being there or there abouts in terms of consistent points and podium places. He just needs to stop being so easy to overtake. The moves that were put on him at some points last year made him look a bit amateur and he needs to improve his defensive driving in order to truly become a contender for wins and championships.

I need not say anything about Michael Schumacher as you all know my opinion on him. He may not be as great as he was just yet but I can see him winning a race or two. And that would do just fine for his reputation in my view.

Following on from them we have Renault's (who think they are Lotus but lets ignore that) R31:

Robert Kubica is the best driver in F1 (and again, I make no bones about saying that) and looked set to bring out some real pace in that Renault. It's quite a radical design and after the first test looked one of the most sorted chassis's on the grid. However with his horrible accident I think it has dented a potential championship challenge from the lead driver. However I can see the car being good on many tracks and scoring fairly consistent points finishes with or without retirements from front runners as it also seems to be very reliable.

Nick Heidfeld is the perfect man to step in. One of the best test drivers in the business and actually a very good overtaking driver when he wants to be. He is one of most recognizable faces in the F1 paddock and is no slouch in anyway. The only problem is that he is more known for being consistent and not blistering, which I think cost him a place on the grid full time in 2010. He will get the car to be good enough piece of kit but I am not entirely sure of his ability to completely upset the form book like Kubica did last year.

Vitaly Petrov simply needs to calm down, stop crashing and drive more races like Hungary, Abu Dhabi and (most of) Turkey to show that he has the talent to not be labelled as one of F1's many failing pay-drivers.

Next would be the Williams Fw33 Cosworth:

It's looked fast in Barrichello's hands. It's quite a conservative design but then again sometimes the simplistic nature of the car might well serve it quite well. Less to go wrong. However the decision on their use of KERS could be a real game changer. Not using KERS would reduce the weight, making it potentially handle even better and be easier on it's tires and fuel consumption than practically every car on the grid and that would suit most of the track. However the problem is the Cosworth engine. It's the least powerful on the grid and with not using KERS it could potentially make the cars easy meat in an overtaking situation with a KERS using Force India or Sauber.

Rubens Barrichello is more motivated to do well than he ever has been and on top of that, has been driving largely his best since 2009 with Brawn. He is a perfect guiding light for the team needing experience in developing the car. He should have a season with points finishes, possibly even more if that Williams is somehow up to scratch.

Debutant No.1: Venezuela's Pastor Maldonado. Yes he is the GP2 champion and from what I saw of GP2 that year he is an excellent hand to hand racer. Does he deserve to be in F1? We will see over the course of the season. Did he deserve his chance at the expense of Nico Hulkenberg? In my opinion no. But then again money talks and he bring sponsorship to Williams which is vital funds to pay for wages and car development.

Next we have one of the most like-able teams on the grid. Force India with the VJM04 Mercedes.

Again, nothing much to say about the, look forward to more points finishes and some crashes, all I can say really about it. It's a progression on last years car that was like Force India's have always been: Fast in a straight line, decent in the wet in Sutil's hands and capable of handling well if they get the setup right.

Adrian Sutil has been loyal to this team since it was Spyker in 2007. He is their creation and at this current point in time, the best chance they have of getting beyond the point they are currently at. Is a really good fighting driver, who will put his all in at every opportunity. A bit like Sebastian Vettel he needs to perhaps curb a tendency to hit things as that is not only lost money from repair bills but is also, more often than not, lost chances for points and improved championship standings. That said I do genuinely think if anyone can get the Force India to a result anything like Fischella's drive at Spa 09 then it is going to be him.

Debutant No.2: Scotsman Paul Di Resta. He has quite the resume coming into this championship. He is the reigning champion of what many consider to be the world's premier touring car championship in the DTM and can lay claim to being the only driver to have World Champion Vettel as a teammate and to have beaten him (European F3 if you were wondering). He is a mighty fine racing driver and is capable of a variety of circuit types. In testing he has been almost on a par with Sutil and could well be the find of the season. However we can only know this for certain when we see him at Albert Park in the fire of the 24 car grid.

Hmmm, next we have the Sauber C30 Ferrari:

It's a pretty car, although it find itself in the same position as it did last year fighting anywhere in the midfield on any given day. Like a lot of cars it is simply an evolution of last years car. However there does appear to be an improvement in one major area: It appears to be somewhat more reliable than last years car as long as this won't follow the exact pattern followed last year where it looked good in testing but it was unreliable and slow for the entire first half of the year.

Kamui Kobayashi can sometimes be as scary and as unpredictable as having a valentines day dinner with a Lion. He can be wayward, expensive and cause a lot of accidents. But while he will need to curb that part of his game out if he wants to progress anywhere it is actually why people like and hate him in equal measure. He is aggressive, always willing to try and overtake and put on a show and he is one of the reasons I managed to convert a friend of mine who dislikes Motorsport immensely to watch F1 because I showed them Kubica's drive at the end o Signapore and Kobayashi's at the end of the European Grand Prix.

Debutant No.3: Mexico's Sergio Perez. The GP2 runner-up is a feisty racer. However he has been in the wall in testing more than anyone else. I do not know much about him in all fairness but he deserves the chance to prove that his fastest lap in practice on Thursday was no fluke and he has the talent to back up the no inconsiderable wallet.

Coming up next we have the Toro Rosso STR6 Ferrari:

The car appears to have extremely good pace on long runs. In part thanks to the relatively solid Ferrari engine and in part to what appears to be a car that is not too difficult to drive and relatively good to the Pirelli tires. It will be a midfield contender and capable of points just like all the other midfield runners.

Sebastian Buemi is not a driver I rate very highly. He does not seem to seem to have one stand out feature. He is boring to watch, doesn't look like he is pushing the car and caused a lot of crashes in lots of races. He needs to prove his talent otherwise the immensely talented reserve driver Daniel Riccardo could be in the car quicker than you can say 'Buemi has been overtaken by Petrov'.

Jaime Algersuari is one of the biggest personalities in the paddock. It's not hard to see why. He is a nice guy, a better musician than Lewis Hamilton and when he gets down to it. A mighty fine racing driver with a lot of potential to be a race winner. Yes he has not ironed out all of the kinks in his race-craft and sometimes that can make him a bit unpredictable but he has raw speed in his driving and he is learning, quite a lot thanks to his battles with Schumacher in various races but most notably Australia. Give him a car further up the grid and he will prove himself properly.

Next we have the Green Lotus T128 Renault (I know, makes it more totally stupid):

The most important development of the car is the Red Bull gear box and Renault engine. Yes it's not as powerful as the Mercedes or the Ferrari but it is quite a lot more powerful than the engine it replaces, the Cosworth and we know that the Red Bull gearbox was one of the few things that permanently worked in last years Red Bull so I have no doubt this car will be a lot faster when it comes to a race situation and I also do not doubt the team's first points will come at some point this year.

Hekki Kovalinen was one of the stars of last year for me. He was consistently the best of the new team's drivers and is quite frankly driving better than he was at Renault or Mclaren in the earlier stages of his career. I do believe in my opinion he has earned the right to be in a quicker than this as he has put in the work with the team to move forward. I look forward to see him mixing it with the rest of the midfield and at points upsetting the big boys. He might be able to do it since he is one of the best at managing tires in the grid so if he could make 1, possibly two less tire stops than some of those in front of him, look out for him the top 10.

Jarno Trulli I think should retire at the end of this year. He is a good driver and really good on the car development side and no-one can doubt he is one of the best one lap specialists since the death of Senna so I expect him to out qualifying Kovalinen more often than not. However his race craft has not been good since he nearly took Toyota to their first win in 2005. And apart from flashes of how good he can be (Japan and Brazil 09) he has lost the talent he had which made him one of the great prospects for what the world thought would be the post Schumcher era in the late 2000's.

Next we have Hispania's F111 Cosworth:

As I said the car is one of the most attractive in recent memory but it is only going to have two days of running before it takes to qualifying in Albert Park. I can't quite help but feeling it's going to be slower on some of the earlier tracks than a GP2 and no matter how good potentially the driving could be (i'll get onto that in a moment) I fully expect the car to be proping up the rear of the grid.

Narain Karthikeyan a driver I liked in 2005. He attacked everything like his life depending on it and drove some good races in that pig they call the last Jordan. He was entertaining and for that, I enjoyed him. However he was, like Kobayashi and Petrov, a bit wayward and did not do enough to earn a drive for 2006 and the start of the V8 era. After not being that successful when he drove and waiting 6 years for his second chance part of me thinks he just for sponsorship for the up and coming Indian Grand Prix, a man for the nation to get behind and create a great windfall come that weekend.

Vitantonio Liuzzi in my opinion did not do enough throughout 2010 to earn keeping a drive for this year. He was slow more often than not, crashed more than he should have done and simply could not extract enough out of the car to get Force India above Williams in the Constructors championship despite having a car I am convinced was faster. He has gone right to the back of grid and thanks to HRT's tendency to change drivers on a whim I do not see him lasting the season, be it because of talent of money.

Last and certainly not least we have the slightly renamed Marussia Virgin MVR-02 Cosworth.

The car is still famous for being designed entirely without wind tunnel in it's initial stages. It's still not as fast as the Lotus but this year they have the reliability issues which ruined their 2010 campaign under control as it can do race distances in testing. On top of that it is a team that operates very well with the budget they have unlike HRT. They are team that are a good template for all Motorsport in the future and if they keep making slow and steady steps could one day become a contender.

Timo Glock is a talent that deserves to be in a faster car than this. But to his credit he wants to be with the team building experience, speed and consistency from the ground up: A task which many drivers would not want to do because it might affect their chances of potentially joining another, potentially faster team. But Timo Glock is a very, very good driver (better than Nico Rosberg in my view) and if anyone can drag that thing kicking and screaming into a fight with the more established teams it will be him.

And last but not least Debutant No.4: Belgian Jeremone d'Ambrosio. Last year he took part in test sessions with team and was either on a par with, or faster than the outgoing Lucas Di Grassi. He is also rich, bringing the new sponsorship with the team. However I can not recall having ever seen him before so I'd need to watch the entire Australian weekend to assess what kind of a driver he could turn out to be... (after a brief look through wikipedia he was average in GP2, finishing 12 in the championship with only one podium and 1 pole position to his name (although that pole was at Spa, so not looking fantastic.)

So after that long and probably boring entry I shall leave you to your own conclusions. I know who I want to win but I also know I think will win.

See you during Melbourne.

Nick