The ground war begins

The Chinese Grand Prix marked fourth Grand Prix of the Formula 1 season and also the end of the fly away races. It was another opportunity for Formula 1's drivers to showcase just how talented they are. In a race of changing conditions it was Jenson Button who emerged victorious but the Britain did not have an easy day at the front of the field.

Button started from the third row of the grid but after Liuzzi crashed into Koybiousi and Buemi at the start the safety car was deployed. With light rain falling, and an expectation for heavier rain the majority of the field pitted for Bridgestone's intermediate tyres. In the past the intermediates have offered an exceptionally large operating window, from near monsoon conditions to a near dry line the intermediate was suitable for both. The tyre was hard enough to withstand the strain of a drying line but could lift enough water off a very wet track to make it desirable in any conditions. The tyre effectively made the full wet tyre redundant.

For this season Bridgestone changed the construction of the intermediate, and it is now considerably softer and less durable. This came startlingly into light in the early stages of this race with Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and Button leading the way ahead of intermediate shod cars that had a considerable advantage for the opening lap after the safety car pulled in but they overheated their tyres due to heat build up on an already drying line.

All the intermediate shod cars had to pit again for slicks. This left runners such as the jump starting Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and the Red Bull front row starters Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber all down the field and at one point over 50 seconds behind the race leaders. Hamilton put in a spirited drive with some stunning overtakes, particularly against Vettel but when the 2008 world champion came up behind Michael Schumacher he seemed star struck and spent a few laps before making his move against the German clearly slowed with an ill handling car.

This was the latest in a string of poor performances from Schumacher. He has been beaten by Rosberg in every qualifying session and race this season and must be starting to reconsider his comeback. In conditions in which he used to excel and was the master of the German seemed tentative and struggled to feel his way around the track. He had very little traction out of second and third gear corners and was a sitting duck on the back straight when Hamilton eventually passed him. Schumacher will have a major upgrade on the Mercedes in time for the Spanish Grand Prix and it cannot come soon enough. Even though he seems satisfied in interviews about how things are going in his comeback performances he did not return to what had previously been HIS domain to make up the numbers and support a faster team-mate. The seven times world champion is too competitive an animal to accept such short comings for too much longer and with the ground war now starting he will look to move forward through the field.

The ground war begins in Barcelona with all the teams bringing in the first of their major developments. After four fly-away races where teams basically had to keep the packages they had at the start of the season the first race in Formula 1's European heartland should see some major changes to cars. Teams will have major aerodynamic upgrades on their cars when the action starts in Spain and it will be interesting to see if Red Bull can maintain its position as the grids fastest car.

The Austrian owned team based in Milton Keynes has had pole position in all four Grand Prix this season but has only been able to convert them into one win. In Formula 1 you need to 'strike when the iron is hot' and capitalise on your strong performances. Red Bull has failed to do this through the season, and while the team will state that wet weather upended the form book the championship table at this point just shows that the team has failed to convert the fastest car on the grid into strong results. With the development race in full flight teams will close the gap to the RB6 and Red Bull could well be left to rue only having won the Malaysian Grand Prix.

McLaren will be very satisfied with the start to their season. After four races the Woking team has won two races with Jenson Button who leads the championship. The reigning world champion was criticised by many for choosing to leave the Mercedes, nee Brawn, team where he was firmly established as the team leader and join McLaren where Lewis Hamilton has been ensconced for many years. So far though Button has acquitted himself very well; out qualifying his team-mate three times and winning twice. The fact that Button won both races in changeable conditions should not be discounted. On both days Button judged the conditions perfectly and adjusted his strategy to take account for the weather. He reaped the rewards of a risky strategy in Melbourne by changing to slicks earlier than everyone else, after those new Bridgestone inters had overheated, and comfortably won. In China he stayed on slicks longer than his rivals and took advantage of Nico Rosberg making a mistake to take the lead and was not headed again.

Rosberg has been the surprise of the season for many. The young German has long been held as a talented driver but due to the constraints of poor Williams’ cars he never got to really shine in his first four years on the grid. He has achieved Mercedes first two podiums of their new incarnation as a Formula 1 team and has been exceptionally impressive in dealing with the pressure of Michael Schumacher returning to the sport. Rosberg has been undaunted by his compatriot and has been faster in each meaningful session of the season. It will be interesting to see which driver the team will support in developing the car. Rosberg is second in the championship but Schumacher has long been able to bend engineers to his way of thinking and with Ross Brawn having experience of how successful Michael can be when he is happy and confident in a car the team will have a difficult decision to make in relation to the development path that the car and team needs to take.

This year has seen a change in the race stewards and how they deal with issues during a race. An experienced ex-driver joins the panel at each race and helps give a drivers perspective on incidents. In theory this should work well and a more balanced system should ensue but there has been inconsistency from one race to another and in China a dangerous precedent was set with Hamilton and Vettel only receiving reprimands for dangerous driving in the pit lane. The duo raced along the length of the pit lane side by side close to air guns and mechanics. Vettel actually tried to cut down the pit lane and force Hamilton into ceding the lane. Hamilton refused and was pushed towards the garages. Thankfully no mechanics were working on cars but Hamilton should have fed in behind Vettel after he had lost the high ground to the German. Both should have received grid place penalties in Spain for their actions but instead get away with a slap on the wrist. It's worth remembering that Hamilton received the same penalty for weaving during the Malaysian Grand Prix as well, so the question needs to be asked of how many times you can be reprimanded before getting a penalty?

There were also incidents with drivers overtaking each other on their way into the pit lane. The pit lane entry is still part of the race track, until the speed limit line, and so these overtaking moves should be deemed perfectly acceptable. The only thing of note was when Alonso passed team-mate Massa prior to both making a stop. Ferrari had expected Massa to be in first and were prepared to change his tyres, which are bar coded and tagged to each driver prior to the race, and yet Alonso came in first. If the correct tyres went onto Alonso's car the team did a magnificent job on the Spaniard's car.

Alonso has been impressive this season for Ferrari and has made himself their team leader after outperforming Massa for most of the season. The Brazilian has been hit and miss this season, not helped by the changeable weather conditions which have always proved a challenge to him. Alonso has had two engine failures already though so will have to curtail his practice laps through the rest of the season as he seeks to maintain a championship challenge, it was engine problems and lacking running that arguably curtailed Vettel last year. The team are confident that they have the weaponry in their arsenal to challenge Red Bull over the course of the year. Tyre wear is one of their strengths and with some very abrasive tracks upcoming there is potential for more victories to follow on from the Bahraini season opening success.

One of those abrasive tracks is the next Grand Prix in Barcelona. Ferrari will be very confident heading to this race in Alonso's home country. Barcelona is a track that needs a very good aerodynamic package and a car that is soft on its tyres. The Ferrari has both of these qualities and whereas the Red Bull is still the fastest and most efficient car on the grid it struggles with tyre wear in comparison to the Ferrari car and this could be crucial as to who can win in Spain. If Ferrari can win, the pressure will really be on Red Bull for the summer as they seek to win their first title.

Japanese MotoGP to be postponed

It is expected to be announced on Monday that next weekend’s Japanese Moto Grand Prix will be postponed until October as a result of flying disruptions in Europe from volcanic ash. Series organiser Dorna are to take the view that with the Spanish Grand Prix the next weekend the risk of teams and equipment being held from Europe is too great. Jerez is generally the best attended race of the year and is in Dorna’s home country so they are loath to cancel or delay the Spanish round.

Japan will be rescheduled for sometime around the Malaysian and Australian rounds in October.

Red Bull dominate qualifying once more

Red Bull continued their dominance of qualifying this season with Sebastian Vettel beating his teammate Mark Webber to pole as the team locked out the front row for the third race in succession.

Team boss, Christian Horner, praised Vettel’s lap with one breath and that shot a warning across rivals who have questioned the cars legality saying on the radio “Well done Seb, who needs ride height control.” The team is at the centre of the latest technical storm to engulf Formula 1 as teams seek reasons as to why Red Bull has consistently been the qualifying pace setter. The FIA addressed the situation midweek but with Red Bull having always stated they had no such system Horner took the opportunity on Vettel’s in lap to state the teams case again.

Mark Webber must have felt he had done enough for a second consecutive pole before Vettel’s superb lap in the dying moments of Q3. The German actually had to copy Webber’s setup after being outpaced throughout the weekend. The Australian seemed disappointed afterwards saying “It was a good battle and definitely a good lap from Seb.”

Fernando Alonso may already be in trouble with engines after two failures but the Ferrari driver will start third tomorrow after another solid qualifying effort. The Spaniard was beaten easily by the Red Bulls; finishing 0.4 seconds back. The good news is that he has three cars between himself and his teammate, championship leader Felipe Massa. Massa has generally struggled here in the past and it seems unlikely that he will fare too much better in the race tomorrow.

McLaren had expected to be quicker than 5^th and 6^th but Button and Hamilton will find themselves in the middle of the pack as they head to turn 1. The team will have to hope for miracles from their F-Duct if they are to challenge for the podium. Nico Rosberg lines up ahead of them in 4^th after once again outpacing Michael Schumacher who struggled throughout the session and must be counting down the days until the Mercedes team release its upgrades.

Vitantonio Liuzzi was the man who joined the three new teams in failing to make it out of Q1 and with Paul di Resta showing well in his practice sessions the Italian will know that performances such as these will not be tolerated for long, especially with Adrian Sutil once more making it into Q3 and qualifying 10^th to show the car has decent pace. Liuzzi has been inconsistent in Formula 1 and the clock is ticking on him to show that he should remain in what is now potentially a consistent point scoring car.

With rain expected for the race tomorrow and drivers in the midfield may well get an opportunity to shine and score points, but with Red Bull on form once more it seems unlikely that Vettel and Webber will be caught.


Chinese Grand Prix – Qualifying
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:36.317 1:35.280 1:34.558
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:35.978 1:35.100 1:34.806
3. Alonso Ferrari 1:35.987 1:35.235 1:34.913
4. Rosberg Mercedes 1:35.952 1:35.134 1:34.923
5. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.122 1:35.443 1:34.979
6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.641 1:34.928 1:35.034
7. Massa Ferrari 1:36.076 1:35.290 1:35.180
8. Kubica Renault 1:36.348 1:35.550 1:35.364
9. Schumacher Mercedes 1:36.484 1:35.715 1:35.646
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:36.671 1:35.665 1:35.963
11. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:36.664 1:35.748
12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.618 1:36.047
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.793 1:36.149
14. Petrov Renault 1:37.031 1:36.311
15. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:37.044 1:36.422
16. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:37.049 1:36.647
17. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:37.050 1:37.020
18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:37.161
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:39.278
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:39.399
21. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:39.520
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:39.783
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:40.469
24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:40.578

McLaren fastest in Shanghai

McLaren was fastest after the first day of running in China, just as they were in Malaysia. The rain interrupted qualifying session for the last race did not allow the team to display if their new developments have closed the qualifying gap to the pacesetting Red Bulls but with the forecast promising for tomorrow the Woking team will get a much clearly picture of how they stand relative to their rivals.

World champion Jenson Button was fastest in the first session with Lewis Hamilton topping the times in the afternoon. McLaren seems to have a well balanced chassis this weekend and with the F-Duct once more proving beneficial in a straight line the team can afford to carry more wing and have greater grip in the tighter sections of the Shanghai track.

Mercedes had a good day running third and fourth in both sessions ahead of the Red Bulls. Noci Rosberg once more got the better of Michael Schumacher but the seven times world champion was only 0.011s behind. Schumacher is returning to the scene of his last victory and has seemed quietly confident that he is getting to grips with his new mount.

Championship leading Ferrari struggled through the practice sessions with Fernando Alonso suffering another blown engine and finishing tenth ahead of championship leading teammate Felipe Massa. Alonso has now blown two of his allocation of eight engines for the season and while it is early days in the season he now has his back against the wall as he may have to limit his running in some of the latter Grand Prix weekends.

Jamie Alguersuari backed up his performance in Malaysia with a solid eighth fastest time, the young Spaniard fared considerably better than his teammate Sebastian Buemi who suffered an alarming front suspension failure. The Swiss driver was braking down the back straight from 200 mph when the front right upright failed and caused the left upright to fail. Both front wheels were free from the car and the Toro Rosso driver was powerless to control the tobogganing car. Fortunately he emerged unscathed but with one wheel hurtling the barriers and coming to rest in the spectator zone Formula 1 can breathe a sigh of relief that no fans were present in the area. 

A damaging weekend for Dani Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa may be called an alien by some, but his performance during the Qatar Grand Prix will surely have brought the Spaniard back to earth with a bang. 

He was comfortably outpaced by his teammate Andrea Dovizioso throughout the entire weekend and a look at the inconsistency of Pedrosa’s race pace provides an indication as to why the Italian defeated his highly rated teammate.

Dani had a poor qualifying session that left him starting the race from seventh on the grid but after a trademark start took the lead into turn one and set competitive lap times for the initial stage of the race before his pace become more and more erratic. The Honda rider had not completed a run of more than seven flying laps during practice and qualifying so it would seem that he did not have his bike properly setup to deal with longer stints.

Pedrosa struggled for consistency during the race. His first seven laps were the only period when he showed consistency but once he was through this stage of the race his performance seemed to fall off a cliff. 


To illustrate the downturn in the Spaniard’s pace during different stages of the race the average time for his first eight flying laps was 1m56.876s. For his next eight laps Pedrosa’s pace dropped off to an average of 1m57.415s. At this point of the race Pedrosa was the only leading rider to suffer from this problem, in comparison Dovizioso averaged 1m56.446s and 1m56.361s. Compounding the woes of the number 26 garage even satellite Honda rider Randy de Puniet improved from 1m56.756s to 1m56.553s.

Even when the speed of lap time is discounted from Pedrosa the alarming rate that he lost speed is very worrying for the Spaniard. While his stable-mates went faster through the race Pedrosa’s relative pace worsened. This strikes of a setup problem on the bike. It seemed that once Pedrosa entered the middle stint of his race he was unable to lap consistently and his pace slackened.

Pedrosa’s longest single stint in practice was for nine laps (an out lap, seven flying laps and an in lap), De Puniet in contrast had a series of longer stints including one 15 lap stint in the first session. Pedrosa might be best served in utilising a practice strategy similar to the Frenchman in future rounds in his attempts to learn how to setup the new Honda for the handling changes that inevitably occur during a Grand Prix.

Dovizioso lapped comfortably in the 1m56’s for the entire race and beat his teammate by nearly 15 seconds or 0.6 seconds per lap. It is a startling fall from grace for Pedrosa who has been the golden boy of HRC since Honda lost Valentino Rossi to Yamaha.

Over the course of the weekend Dovizioso was quicker in every session but in practice two and qualifying the average time difference was very slight, in the race Pedrosa clearly had no confidence on the bike once the characteristics changed and the tyres began to wear. As a result he had to ease right off and lost large chunks of time to the leaders.

Pedrosa will need to work hard with his engineers to get more confidence in the new bike. When a rider with this much talent has such a problem with inconsistency there are clearly issues that need addressing. Pedrosa had good race pace at the start; he just could not maintain his mid 1m 56s laps while all the other leading runners could do so.

Will the opening round of the season prove to be a precursor to Dani Pedrosa losing his status as an extra terrestrial or will it spur him on to achieving the results expected of the Honda team leader? One thing for sure is that while Qatar answered questions in relation his opponents for Pedrosa the opening round will pose even more questions after an equally trying winter. The season may still be in its infancy but Pedrosa knows that unless he can sort out the setup of his motorcycle on longer runs he will leave himself too much of a mountain to climb in the title chase and could also find himself discarded by HRC.

Chinese Grand Prix Preview - Round 4 Formula 1

The Shanghai Circuit:

2004 saw the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix with Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello leading home Jenson Button for the win. In the subsequent five visits to the world’s must populace country the circuit has shown the potential for close racing and exciting finishes with the average winning distance only seven seconds. Grid position though is as crucial as ever with only one of the six victors coming from off the front row of the grid-Michael Schumacher achieved the win from sixth on the grid in the rain affected Grand Prix of 2006.

The circuit was built in 2003 by the Chinese government to show that the country was ready to be a sporting and financial powerhouse and it raised the standards expected of new F1 venues but even though the drivers praise the layout and the fact that there is ‘a bit of everything’ it is a jack of all trades and a master of none. It pales in comparison to long established circuits such as Spa, Interlagos, Silverstone and Suzuka.

Being designed by Herman Tilke a family resemblance to other new circuits are evident. Bahrain, Sepang, Abu Dhabi and the new Hockenheim all share a long straight and a tight hairpin in a bid to allow for overtaking. In China the cars will reach 320 km/ph as they brake into the second gear turn 14 and before tackling the final corner where the exit is crucial as cars will again be in excess of 310 km/ph before turn 1 and its tightening radius. It is a pretty long lap of 5.5 km and drivers can find a nice rhythm from the exit of turn 4 until the start of the back straight. This is the drivers favourite section of the lap as speeds are quite high for the majority and corners lead into one another. Turns 7 and 8 are very fast and the car is on a knife edge of grip when the change of direction is required.

Setup for the Chinese Grand Prix:

Teams and drivers have to balance the need for straight line speed with the requirement for mechanical grip in the first section of the lap. High speed corners such as 7 and 8 need good rear stability as drivers are constantly making small adjustments to the cars pitch through the turns. The exit of turn 13 is crucial for a drivers top speed down the long back straight so drivers take this high cambered corner into account when setting the car up for the race as the straight and braking zone for turn 14 represent the best opportunity for potential overtaking moves during the race. With five second or third gear corners on this track the need for mechanical grip is crucial for lap time. A high speed, low downforce setting is the last thing a driver needs when tackling a second gear corner such as turn 1 in Shanghai so a balancing act of car setup is used by teams. The driver will search for the least amount of downforce that he needs for the slow corners while still maintaining a high top speed.

McLaren’s innovative F-duct will be of great advantage again this weekend and drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton should once again be able to carry more downforce and achieve similar top speeds to opponents due to the stalling of the rear wing that the device manages to achieve. This will be very advantageous as the two most recent world champions can carry more wing and avail of greater levels of grip and downforce in the slower speed corners that are crucial on this track. The advantage will be two fold for them as they can carry more corner speed through turn 13 onto the back straight and then utilise the duct to decrease drag and increase their potential top speed into turn 14. Expect to see the McLaren’s once more monopolise the top speeds chart and be exceptionally competitive over the weekend.

Strategy for this weekend:

This race has not proved to be exceptionally taxing on cars and drivers with a minimum of 17 drivers finishing the race each year. Historically this Grand Prix has been a two stop race but with Bridgestone’s tyres proving to be exceptionally durable this race will become a one stopper this year, unless it rains.

Grand Prix weekend weather

Three of the six Chinese Grand Prix have been interrupted by rain and this year the weather has the potential to once more inject some unexpected results on the race. Sebastian Vettel won last year’s wet race and the early weather forecast predicts that he will have to contend with rain if he is to achieve back to back wins here. Friday and most of Saturday should be dry but the clouds will roll in during the night and Sunday will have rain with a 65% chance that the rain will fall during the Grand Prix.

Wet weather always creates the potential for increased excitement and this year’s Chinese Grand Prix could be electrified by a storm such as the one during the build up to the second round in Australia.

Past Performances in China

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton both have great form in China. Ferrari driver Alonso will look to bounce back to form after Malaysia and his engine failure. The 2005 winner has also achieved pole position here and has finished on the podium on four occasions and prior to last year had always finished in the top four.

Alonso’s former teammate Lewis Hamilton has been the pole sitter twice but crashed out during the rain of 07 before winning in 08 and will seek his first win of the year this weekend with an updated McLaren expected to incorporate a ride height control mechanism.

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel has consistently been the pace setter of Formula 1 in 2010 and after winning from pole last year will look to repeat that performance and place himself firmly at the top of the world championship. Felipe Massa currently occupies that lofty position but the Brazilian has had mixed fortunes in Shanghai. He was very impressive for Sauber in the first Grand Prix here when he qualified 4^th and finished 8^th and has had two podiums in 2007 and 2008 but with two retirements and a sixth he will have to perform at his best to maintain his slender world championship lead.

Rossi capitalises on Stoner's crash to win in Qatar

Valentino Rossi’s star shone brightest underneath the Qatar night sky as the Italian won the 104^th race of his glittering career. This win was one of his least expected as Casey Stoner dominated the weekend but the 2007 world champion crashed out of the lead leaving a delighted Rossi to top the podium.

It was a textbook performance from Rossi, the reigning world champion, but it was not an easy win for the Yamaha man as he was involved in a titanic battle with Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso and his former teammate Nicky Hayden, now riding for Ducati.

The trio pulled away from the pack early and tussled amongst themselves for the lead with Dovizioso’s Honda showing exceptional straight line speed but Rossi able to open enough of a gap through the tighter sections to just about stay ahead of his compatriot.

Hayden had arguably his best race for Ducati as he fought for the race lead but he was unable to make a move on his rivals. With six laps to go Rossi decided that he needed to break away from his pursuers and he set a series of fast laps leaving Dovizioso and Hayden were left to battle with Jorge Lorenzo for the remaining podium places.

Lorenzo had a measured race from the front row. The Spaniard conserved his tyres initially and used this to his advantage attacking late to claim second after a daring overtaking move on Dovizioso who managed to beat Hayden to the line for the bottom step of the season opening podium.

Away from the leaders American rookie Ben Spies showed that he will be more than capable on a MotoGP bike as the reigning World Superbikes champion finished in fifth. He displayed bravery in battling with Dani Pedrosa and he also had enough speed to comfortably pull away from the factory Honda rider.

Pedrosa is one of the highest rated riders on the grid but the diminutive rider struggled all weekend with his Honda and was soundly beaten by teammate Dovizioso. It will be a case of back to the drawing board for Pedrosa as he searches for the answers to unlocking the correct suspension settings to give him confidence to attack. He managed to make his trademark fantastic start and led into turn one from ninth on the grid but he was only going to move backwards from there and eventually fell as far as seventh finishing 16 seconds behind the victor.

Stoner was left to rue his mistake and seeing his title rival Rossi open a 25 point lead in the title chase. It may be early days but the Australian knows that giving his rival a lead puts him at a severe disadvantage in the early running of the season. As a result of Rossi rarely crashing he collects podiums with ease and Stoner will know that he must bounce back and win the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks or run the risk of having to climb a mountain to challenge for the title.

Moto2 starts with a bang!

The first ever Moto2 Grand Prix was won by Shoya Tomizawa ahead of Alex Debon and Jules Cluzel. 

With a field of 41 starting the race the probability of an accident at the first corner was quite high so when front row starters Alex de Angelis and Stefan Bradl crashed it did not come as much of a surprise. Even with such a large field there were battles all the way through the field but the one at the front was the most exciting.

A leading group developed with pole sitter Toni Elias leading the way initially but Cluzel, Tomizawa and Debon all took turns as the race leader.

The infighting in this group gave Tomizawa the opportunity he needed to build up a lead and by half distance he led by 1.5 seconds before the experienced Elias decided that the group needed to stop fighting amongst themselves and needed to close down the leader. But by the point he damage was done and Tomizawa was uncatchable.

The young Japanese rider showed terrific maturity as he chased his first victory and as a result of his speed the main action by the finish was behind him.

With the race drawing to a close ELias' pace slowed considerably due to a fractured ankle injury starting to hinder the Spaniard and Debon managed to pass him for third and set about chasing down Cluzel.

Debon managed to get ahead of the Frenchman half way round the final lap and as they headed down the home straight Debon managed to hold off Cluzel in a slipstreaming battle to the line.

Terol wins the opening Grand Prix of 2010

Nico Terol emerged victorious from the opening 125cc Grand Prix of the 2010 season after a superb race.

Terol, riding an Aprilia, was part of a group of seven riders that dominated the race and finished 13 seconds clear of the rest of the field. Derbi rider Efran Vasquez had a first career podium position after finishing as runner up, he achieved this after beating pole sitter, and championship favorite, Marc Marquez by half a bike length.

Marquez once again was left to rue failing to convert pole into a victory and the youngster still has yet to win a Grand Prix which must surely be weighing heavily on. Pol Espargaro was the unlucky rider not to end up on the podium when after battling hard with Marquez and teammate Vasquez had to settle for fourth. The Barcelona native had the most eventful race of the leaders but will leave Qatar disappointed with his result.

A preview of MotoGP 2010

Grand Prix motorcycle racing starts again this weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix playing host to the world’s most exotic two wheeled racing machines under the now traditional lights of the opening night race of the season from Losail. MotoGP is split into three classes with the MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc divisions. Each has its own world title and the battle for race wins is hard as nail in each category.

The MotoGP class tends to dominate the hearts and minds of race fans over the world, just as much as four riders have dominated the premier class for the last three years. Dubbed the aliens by their fellow competitors; Valentino Rossi, Casey Stone, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa have won 50 of the last 53 races and only wet weather has allowed the opposition to have any success. This year though sees the chance for a change at the head of the field with Pedrosa struggling in pre season with a poor Honda possibly leaving a gap for another rider to fill.

The rider with the best chance to fill that void could well be American rookie Ben Spies. The reigning World Superbike champion is riding a Yamaha for the Tech 3 team and comes into the paddock with a fearsome reputation bolstered considerably by his debut on the Yamaha M1 at Valencia last season when he finished seventh after never riding on the bike prior to the race weekend. The Texan will seek to achieve success in Grand Prix comparable to his Superbike career but the road has been littered with riders who have failed in their attempts to achieve this.

Valentino Rossi will still be the man to beat and the nine times world champion shows no signs of letting his grip on the title wane as he sets out to compete in his 15^th world championship season. The Italian has long been held as the greatest of his generation and over the last five years has been called the greatest of all time but his endurance to continue racing at the top for so long without become weary of the grind has to be lauded as much as his riding. Each year there is an expectation within the paddock that Rossi will finally be unseated by a rival and supplanted as the best in the class but each time Rossi comes back stronger than ever.

A prime example of this was in 2008 when after losing the previous two titles it seemed as though he was losing his iron grip as the world’s premier rider. The Italian though bounced back in style, dominating in ’08 in the first of back to back titles. Ominously for his rivals Rossi has once again been the pacesetter in testing after finishing five of six tests days as the fastest runner.

With limited testing for teams and riders it will be exceptionally difficult for others to catch Rossi. Pedrosa is using new suspension and has been poor in testing and with the only running available to him during race weekends it is highly unlikely that the diminutive Spaniard will be winning races at the start of the season. But that is preciously what he needs to do otherwise the erstwhile golden boy of the Honda Racing Corporation will find himself cast aside and forced to seek employment elsewhere.

Ducati rider Casey Stoner promises to Rossi’s chief advisory for the title. The 2007 champion has prodigious speed and after an illness plagued ’09 will look to bounce back with aplomb this year. The Australian missed three races last summer but came back to win two of the last four races. Indeed his home victory at Philip Island was probably one of the best defensive rides for many years as he held off Rossi for the win.

Jorge Lorenzo is Rossi’s teammate for Yamaha but the relationship is a strained one between the pair. A dividing wall has separated the pair for the last two years inside their garage and while information flows between the pair the tension is obvious. A lot of this has to do with the fact that Lorenzo is incredibly talented and has the mental resilience not to crack under the strain of going toe to toe with Rossi. Unfortunately his hand is not so resilient; Lorenzo fractured a bone and displaced his thumb after a slow speed accident over the winter. After struggling to do more than five laps at a time in the most recent test it is unlikely that the likeable 22 year old will have the speed to compete with his teammate and Stoner for the first few races but once he returns to full fitness the grid will have its hands full trying to keep him at bay.

A classic battle looks set for the premier class title but it would take someone very brave to bet against Rossi. If Stoner can stay healthy all year he has the potential to be a thorn in the Italians side. Outside of that the main surprise might well be the demise of one of the other aliens. With Lorenzo's injury concerns and Pedrosa struggling on the Honda the way could clear for a surprise in the top four. Colin Edwards and Ben Spies look primed to have their share of scalps but 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden has been promising in testing for Ducati. Testing make questions but Sunday will provide answers.

While the battle for the title in MotoGP promises to be immense the battle on the track in Moto2 and in the 125’s should be just as good. This year sees replacement of the 250 class the start of Moto2. With the sale of two stroke machines dwindling world wide it was decided that creating a new 600cc four stroke class was the way forward; as a result Moto2 was born. This season should see a fantastic battle to see who the inaugural champion becomes with 36 riders entered for the championship.

Moto2 has an exceptional field of riders led by Toni Elias and Alex de Angelis stepping down from MotoGP but they will be competing with some incumbent 250cc riders such as Mike de Meglio, Mattia Pasini and Jules Cluzel. Julian Simon, Andrea Iannone and Scott Redding all move up from 125’s. The grid is packed with race winners and world champions and the battle between them should be immense.

Generally the smaller classes are filled with riders who dream of getting into MotoGP so there is huge potential for excitement as youngsters blindly ride beyond the limits of their machine in an attempt to cement their reputations as a potential champion. A ‘rostrum or hospital’ mentality can prevail with daring moves destined to end in disaster a fairly common sight as races draw to a close.

It is in these smaller classes that the likes of Rossi learnt their craft and each year there is potential for motorcycle’s next superstar to be unearthed in the smaller classes. With only a second separating the top 20 at the most recent group test the only thing that seems to be predictable about Moto2 is its unpredictability!

The smallest class is reserved for the 125cc machines. This category has historically been the first step for any would be Grand Prix rider. This category is all about momentum and corner speed. Riders do not have massive amounts of power due to the small capacity of the engine and as a result it is all about keeping the engine in its sweet spot and maximising the power available to the rider. This year sees an exceptionally open title race with seven riders expected to challenge for the championship, but each year in this class riders come out of nowhere and become race winners  after learning their craft for one or two years.

Bradley Smith starts the year as slight the favourite but the British teenager knows that it is now or never for him to win the title. As a works Aprilia rider he will have the best bike on the grid but the vice-champion from last season faces a struggle from inside his own team if he is too win the title. Nico Terol joins Smith at the Aspar team and the Spaniard who won twice last season will expect to compete at the very front of the field. Another Spaniard, Marc Marquez, has joined a new team this year. After spending two years on the KTM he moves to Aprilia and will be searching for his first Grand Prix victory. While it may seem unlikely that a rider without a win would suddenly become a title challenger it is worth remembering that Marquez had a less powerful bike in the past and still has set pole positions and finished on the rostrum. The rest of the grid would be advised to underestimate the smallest man in the field at their pearl.

Pol Espargaro and Jonas Folger are also expected to be title challengers. Espargaro has won races in the past and last season blossomed into a potential world champion. Folger starts the year as an outsider but was sensational at times last season as a rookie. The German could have won races with a bit more experience and it is highly unlikely that he will not win at least once this year.

The great thing about the 125cc class is that any rider can come from the pack and suddenly develop into a front line race winner. Experience counts for a lot in this class as most riders are quite young. Once riders have two years under their belt not much will surprise them about the racing and the bikes and as a result riders that crashed a lot and struggled for pace suddenly morph into world beaters. Who will do that this season? With Smith, Terol and Marquez already experienced they will be expected to challenge for the title but outsiders such as Danny Webb could challenge. Second year rider Johan Zarco showed flashes of brilliance last year and will look to build on that. As far as rookies are concerned Marcel Schrotter looks a potential star and could well challenge at the front during the year.

Red Bull get off the mark with a dominant one-two in Sepang

Sebastian Vettel got his title charge firmly back on course with a resounding victory in Sepang. The Red Bull driver finally led his team to the type of dominant victory they have threatened all year as he led home his teammate in a one-two finish.

 This race was won at the start as Vettel managed to get by pole sitting teammate, Mark Webber, into turn one. From there on the Red Bull’s ran in formation with the Australian unable to get close enough to even attempt to retake the lead. Webber tried to keep the gap as small as possible to the leader but when Vettel pitted first for new tyres the result was a foregone conclusion as he would now have more grip and therefore pace until Webber pitted a lap later. For Webber the relative time lost for pitting later was compounded by a problem fitting the right front tyre and he lost yet more time and came out third behind Lewis Hamilton who had yet to make his stop.

Hamilton fought his way up from 19^th on the grid after the rain affected qualifying and eventually finished 6^th after a spirited driver from the former world champion. After McLaren botched their strategy for Hamilton in Australia they made amends here with their decision to run the majority of the race on the harder compound tyres and Hamilton was able to set very competitive lap times even at the end of his stint. He chased down Adrian Sutil to the flag but was unable to make the crucial overtaking move.

Nico Rosberg converted his first front row start into Mercedes first podium in their current incarnation. It was a quiet day for the young German but ended another satisfying weekend as he yet again outpaced Michael Schumacher throughout. Schumacher retired with a wheel nut failure after making a good start and comfortably running inside the top six. Rosberg’s day was quiet as he was unable to match the pace of the Red Bull’s but could pull away Robert Kubica who backed up his solid second from Melbourne with fourth today. The Renault driver has now climbed to seventh in the driver’s championship and will be looking forward to China where the traction of his car should prove beneficial.

After the disappointment of the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix this race provided evidence that Formula 1 in 2010 has the potential for exciting racing in the dry with overtaking and strategic variance providing an enthralling race. This was shown perfectly with the battle between Melbourne winner Jenson Button and the Ferrari’s. Their tussle raged for 15 laps and was only settled when Alonso blew his Ferrari engine. Massa had been involved prior to this and overtook the reigning world champion before pursuing Hamilton. Button had a trying race, needing to pit early for tyres after suffering oversteer from the start. This decision meant that he needed to complete nearly the entire race distance on one set of tyres and as a result he was easy prey for Massa. Even so he put up a spirited defence from Alonso and while the Spaniard managed to get by into turn one he out braked himself and then retired with engine failure.

The final point’s scorers were Jamie Algasuari and rookie Nico Hülkenberg. Both had eventful races with Hülkenberg struggling for pace after qualifying at the front of the field. Formula 1 will now move onto China and the expectation has to be that another exciting race should transpire. The weather has the potential to play a pivotal role once again but just like each race so far the favourite must be Red Bull and Vettel, the victors last year in China, to be best placed to win again.

Chaotic Qualifying in Sepang leads to an upturned grid

Chaos reigned in Sepang as the rain poured down during qualifying for this weekend’s Grand Prix. Red Bull’s Mark Webber put his Australian nightmare behind him to secure the second pole position of his Formula 1 career after an inspired decision to use intermediate tyres in qualifying three while the other runners utilised Bridgestone’s extreme wet weather tyre. Webber struggled through Friday’s running but came alive with the fastest time of practice on Saturday morning and will start ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes’ Rosberg will start from the front row for the first time in his career and again outpaced teammate Michael Schumacher in qualifying as the seven times world champion struggled to deal with the conditions.

Vettel had set the fastest time in qualifying two but could not match the pace of his teammate Webber when it counted but both Red Bull drivers know that tomorrow’s race is crucial for their title challenge after the trials of the first two races. The top drivers in the World championship all failed to make it into qualifying two with Melbourne winner Button spinning out and starting 17^th leading the title chasers. Lewis Hamilton starts 19^th ahead of Alonso and Massa. Each of these drivers has only themselves to blame as they did not set a time when the track was at its driest in the first session. This left them to set their fastest times on extreme weather tyres and this decision will cost them the chance to fight for victory unless there is havoc during the race.

The main question marks for the race surround around which drivers qualified with an eye towards a dry race setup and were therefore at a disadvantage in qualifying. The time gap between Schumacher and Rosberg would lead one to believe that Schumacher has set his car up for the dry but with overtaking proving to be so difficult it is still tough to see this strategy paying off for the returning veteran. Force India had their strongest session of the year with both drivers qualifying inside the top ten in a similar feat to Williams and both teams will look to strike while the iron is hot and score points in the race while the Ferrari’s and McLaren’s have to battle through the backmarkers.

MALAYSIAN GP QUALIFYING

1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:51.886 1:48.210 1:49.327

2. Rosberg Mercedes 1:52.560 1:47.417 1:50.673

3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:47.632 1:46.828 1:50.789

4. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:49.479 1:47.085 1:50.914

5. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:49.664 1:47.346 1:51.001

6. Kubica Renault 1:46.283 1:46.951 1:51.051

7. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:50.301 1:48.371 1:51.511

8. Schumacher Mercedes 1:52.239 1:48.400 1:51.717

9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.467 1:47.792 1:51.767

10. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:49.922 1:48.238 1:52.254

11. Petrov Renault 1:47.952 1:48.760

12. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.153 1:48.771

13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.945 1:49.207

14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.655 1:49.464

15. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.875 1:52.270

16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.398 1:52.520

17. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:52.211

18. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.884

19. Alonso Ferrari 1:53.044

20. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:53.050

21. Massa Ferrari 1:53.283

22. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:56.299

23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:57.269

24. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.977