As a huge fan of Formula 1 ever since I was a young boy, I always start the new season with a hint of excitement and a lot of nervousness, much like the drivers themselves. For me the cause for concern is always the new regulations and how they affect the drivers and teams, this year has certainly been no exception.

New rules have been introduced for the 2010 season including reducing the width of the front tyres, a decrease in the length of time available for on-track aerodynamic testing and no mid-race refuelling. Along with these changes to the cars the teams also have a new points system to get used to, with 25 points going to the winner of the race and 10th place getting 1 point.


With the cars now having to do full race distance on one fuel load the potential for more excitement has increased to that of the early 1990′s when cars used to overtake on the track, not the pit lane. I personally am glad to see overtaking being taken back onto the track, but at the moment the fuel rule gained a lot of criticism after the race.

From the start both the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso pushed hard for the first corner, trying to get ahead of Sebastien Vettel’s Red Bull. But he held his nerve and position and opened up a early lead as the drivers got used to navigating around the redesigned track with the cars topped to the brim with fuel. Fernando Alonso made a move on his team-mate Massa around the outside of the first corner and managed to hold the inside line for the second where he settled into his position behind Vettel. The usual melee of cars in the first series of corners led to both Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil spinning out and returning to the track towards the back of the chasing pack. Lewis Hamilton led the rest of the pack in his McLaren with the Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher battling for 5th and 6th ahead of the current world champion, Jenson Button.

After the cars had come in for their mandatory tyre change Vettel still held the lead by a slim margin from the chasing Ferraris, but the gap never seemed to close. Both Alonso and Massa were having to move out of the Red Bull’s slipstream to avoid overheating their engines, which had already had been replaced after qualifying. The race looked set to be a tense battle with Alonso waiting for Vettel to make a mistake so that he could close the gap enough to get past on the straights but the Red Bull driver was holding his nerve and the racing line superbly.

However, this all changed on the 34th lap when Vettel’s engine started to sound extremely rough and the young driver’s car began to struggle on the long straights on the circuit. Alonso quickly pounced on the opportunity and overtook the Red Bull with Massa quickly following behind his team-mate, Vettel struggled on driving the crippled car expertly to the end of the race only losing one more place to Hamilton’s McLaren. Overall the drivers of the day were definitely Felipe Massa and Sebastien Vettel, Massa’s return to racing put to bed any thoughts of last year’s freak accident affecting his ability. Vettel looked supreme in the race until a spark plug failed in his engine and even with the loss of power he was able to bring his car home in 4th.

The newcomers to the Formula 1 teams; Lotus, Hispania and Virgin had mixed results from their first run out in a full race. Both Hispania and Virgin drivers retired fairly early on in the race, but the teams themselves were more than happy to have made it to the start. Both Lotuses looked set to finish the race until hydraulic failure prevented Jarno Trulli from finishing. Trulli’s team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen, was the only driver from the new teams to finish the race ahead of the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi.

As a spectacle it was a very slow, procession of a race interspersed with moments of drama whenever one of the cars hit a mechanical problem or retired from the race. Almost as soon as the race had finished the complaints began, with the finger of blame pointing straight at new refuelling regulations for the lack of overtaking.

But I don’t think this was the sole issue, for me the biggest problem seems to be related to the amount of downforce being generated by the cars. The turbulent air being produced at the rear of the car is leaving too large a gap for other cars to get close enough on the straights to slipstream and overtake. Added to this the narrower front tyres are leading to less grip at the front of the car coming into and out of the corners, leaving most drivers struggling for traction as they accelerate away. Another problem was with the redesigned second section of the Bahrain track. This slow, bumpy section of the course added additional time to a lap and did not present any clear way of overtaking for the drivers. Hopefully this will be rectified in time for next year’s race.

So, overall, the season got off to a sluggish start and many people have been quick to dislike the fuelling rules, but I for one will be watching the Melbourne Grand Prix this weekend with heightened interest.

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