Vettel Charging to the Title

As the Formula 1 paddock shuts up shop for a few weeks as the teams and drivers enter a mandatory summer holiday, the anticipation of an exciting second half of the season is building. For many, the Championship looks bleak - Sebastian Vettel extended his lead over second place Mark Webber to 85 points in Hungary last weekend - but that won't take away from the racing, which has seen some of the best Grand Prix racing in years.

For each Championship protagonist, they have put themselves in a no-pressure situation. Ferrari have nothing to lose and everything to gain with Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard lies 89 points behind and has already said that Ferrari must start taking risks in it's maximum attack approach. He shares a similar story with both McLaren drivers - Hamilton is the closest McLaren driver to Vettel but 88 points behind, while Jenson Button's mastermind performance at the Hungaroring decreases his gap to Vettel, albeit four whole race wins behind with 100 points. Even the defending Champion can approach his racing with a sense of no-pressure. Because even if his outstanding consistency in 2011 takes a downward spiral, he can rely on the resurgent duo of McLaren and Ferrari to trip each other up frequently.

Hamilton and Alonso will need to assist each other

Vettel can even depend on his team-mate Mark Webber to get involved and take points off of his rivals. Webber has also been ultra-consistent in 2011, finishing every race between second or fifth and bringing home valuable Constructor's Championship points as well as chipping points off of Red Bull's rivals. The consistency and reliability of Red Bull in general has been supreme - all of the teams feared a Red Bull car with strong reliability statistics, and, forgiving the odd KERS issue here and there, the RB7 has yet to be severely compromised by reliability woes that it's older RB6 machine suffered, most notably in Bahrain, Australia and Korea.

And the outfit from Milton Keynes have been reaping the benefits of a combination of fearsome qualifying pace, a strong driver line-up and bulletproof reliability. What has been a fascinating Formula 1 season has been covered up by 11 qualifying sessions of Red Bull dominance and Sebastian Vettel taking 6 wins in 8 races, bearing similar traits to Jenson Button's title triumph with Brawn GP in 2009. But now he needs to "maintain the gap" - which won't be easy.

Vettel has only taken pole in one of the last three Grand Prix (albeit his team-mate taking the other two), with none of those races being won by a blue and yellow car. Ferrari have consistently proved that they can threaten Red Bull now, with Alonso standing on the podium in the last four races, one of them being on the top step. And now McLaren look to have overcome their dip in form at Valencia and Silverstone and have taken the last two wins and only just missed out on pole in both of those races, underlining their performance and warning Red Bull that the close end of the season won't be the same walkover like it was earlier in the year.

Adrian Newey has upgraded the car to within an inch of what the regulations have dictated and now the teams behind them are catching up faster than they were before. The top three are separated by tenths and track characteristics are going to play an even bigger part going into the final stages of Vettel's 2010 title defence. Spa and Monza will be tough circuits for Red Bull, although it is noteworthy that Mark Webber stole pole position in the Ardennes forest a year ago and an ambitious strategy aided Vettel into a crucial 4th place at Monza. Red Bull need to use all of it's newly found experience to survive a McLaren-Ferrari onslaught at the next two Grand Prix. From then on, the RB7 looks capable of holding it's own, particularly at Singapore and Suzuka. But with McLaren and Ferrari focusing on their weaknesses - McLaren being high speed downforce and Ferrari lacking pace on the Saturday - it looks like the gap is going to be even closer.

Is Newey running out of ideas under these regulations?

But, as we've been seeing all season - particularly in the most recent races - Vettel has had his fair share of good fortune. If it wasn't for the red flag in Monaco, arguably Vettel might have hit the cliff on his super soft tyres and lost a key victory. At the Nurburgring he was fortunate to get away with an early spin and manage to get away with 4th place and 12 key points. And at the most recent event at the Hungaroring, had Hamilton and McLaren not made a crucial blunder by going with the super soft tyres and going against the rest to blow a potential 1-2, Sebastian may not have picked up three extra points. Instead, his Championship lead is increasing or only dropping by tiny margins. Call it luck, or on the flipside you could argue that his low-risk approach has seen his rivals fall by the wayside while he pushes on to collect any scraps. And when he's not capitalising on misfortune for others, he is grabbing pole and sailing off into the distance. The guy looks unbeatable on his day. Unfortunately for everyone else, he's looked every bit a World Champion in every single race.

These next two races are crucial for Red Bull. The team and Sebastian Vettel have destiny in their own hands. They look uncatchable, but be sure that the chasing pack will be giving them as hard a time as possible.

The Sky's the limit?

After being put under pressure I've decided to get back blogging and writing about the sport I love. I've spent a few hours putting some ideas together on what I could write about, but a shock announcement literally overnight (is anything ever a shock when it comes to F1?) pretty much handed me a storyline that has the potential to impact the long-term future of Formula 1 broadcasting in the UK.

The news that the UK broadcasting of Formula 1 from 2012 onwards will be split by the BBC and Sky has sent shockwaves through the paddock and the general Formula 1 community. I'm a frequent tweeter and the first reactions of many have been of anger, frustration and disappointment that the BBC will broadcast 10 full race weekends instead of the full 2012 season, with Sky taking over the reins. And this isn't just a trial run - the sharing deal lasts until 2018, forcing fans to pay up for a Sky Sports subscription or be left with less access. It sets a stark contrast to when the BBC took the rights back from ITV in 2009, with uninterrupted coverage of practice, qualifying and races (and all the little bits before and after) free of charge.

It's all about cutting costs at the BBC in a difficult economic period

 There's no doubt the BBC coverage has been stellar and has continued to go from strength to strength. This has had a significant impact as the F1 fanbase grows stronger, evidenced with some outstanding viewing figures, even during and most particularly the marathon Canadian Grand Prix. But, like with Grand Prix racing itself, all good things have to come to an end, as the BBC has had to cut back it's Formula 1 offerings in a bid to save money. The BBC runs very differently to other TV channels, relying on the licence fee more than anything else, and cannot afford to meet the demands of a Formula One Management that shows no mercy when it comes to funds. And this is where Sky come in.

With piles of money larger than Eddie Jordan's pile of unfashionable clothes, Sky never appeared off of the radar when the rumours started circulating over the future of BBC F1 coverage. Takeover rumours were quickly hushed down but Sky taking the rights to future F1 seasons always remained. Channel 4 and Channel 5 were suggested, but evidently nothing has materialised. The arguments against F1 going to Sky, coming from concerned Team Principals such as McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh, was that the fanbase was never going to be as large if Formula 1 was on pay TV, which would make sponsors unhappy resulting in more teams pulling out with financial difficulties. On the plus side, FOM and the teams have got a massive financial boost as Sky allegedly have paid more for the full rights than the BBC ever did. And with the BBC offering non-pay TV viewers a taster of what Formula 1 is like, fans will be queueing up to buy subscriptions to watch the full season. It's a win-win situation for Sky, who have access to every single race weekend from 2012 onwards. The BBC, however, have had to compromise severely, instead offering full radio coverage across every weekend as well as a highlights shows at the end of every Grand Prix.

Get ready for Sky's coverage featuring British Heroes Hamilton & Button!

What will be interesting, however, is the direct comparison in viewing figures between the BBC and Sky when both broadcasters show the same Grand Prix. The BBC's impartial coverage has been fantastic over the past two seasons and free-to-view figures are traditionally a lot higher than subscription channels, as demonstrated by WRC coverage in recent years, but will the lure of live coverage be too much for non-Sky customers come 2012? Only time will tell.


Vettel given food for thought

Despite the calls that it was a matter of not "if" but "when" the rain would fall at the German Grand Prix, a significant downpour failed to threaten the racing and a fantastic spectacle. However, dark clouds will still be hanging over the Red Bull camp, as their dominance over the rest of the field becomes ever closer to being non-existent. Sebastian Vettel in particular, whose calm and measured approach to 2011 has been taken with that of an experienced Champion despite being only 24, could be forgiven for thinking he can afford a mistake or two and play a conservative game. The action in Germany confirmed that this would not be the case, as Vettel made a costly mistake early on and had his Championship lead slashed by resurgent drives from Hamilton, Alonso and team-mate Webber.

How many times will we see this in the second part of 2011?

Early pace in free practice at the Hungaroring is that McLaren and Ferrari look to continue the trend that was set at the Nurburgring by posing a constant threat to the Red Bulls from here on in. While you shouldn't read too much into the times at this early stage, with Webber 4th and the reigning Champion in 5th, the times between all three cars look very comparable. Remarkably, the Hungarian Grand Prix has sprung up exciting races, none more so than in the past few seasons where Webber fought hard to claim a great win and a resurgent McLaren broke their 2009 troubles with Hamilton's first win as a Champion. McLaren need look no further for inspiration to reignite their Championship challenge. It's all to play for in Budapest.

Upping the Dosage

A few weeks back, to coincide with my first blog article, I put a poll alongside my entries on the left hand side asking the fans themselves what they thought of the new-for-2011 Drag Reduction System. Admittedly, I got a lot more responses than I was expecting (the F1 2011 Preview certainly contributed to a lot more exposure) so thank you to those that shared their thoughts!

Out of 114 votes, a massive 71% of those votes believed that DRS was good for Formula 1 and really contributed to the racing, which I'm inclined to agree with. The system isn't greatly overpowered and solely relied on so it can only be a great thing for the sport in my opinion.

However, I'm also not blind in regards to the other features of the F1 2011 package that have really made this season a classic. The return of KERS has brought a different type of strategy into the mix, but the Pirelli tyres have arguably had the biggest impact on the spectacle, with teams trying to call each other's bluff and get the strategy absolutely nailed on the head. It has led to some incredible racing which I think no-one can deny.

Despite this, Pirelli are trying to take a more conservative approach as the season progresses, aiming for two stops rather than three or four, which is fair enough; tyre manufacturers have to prove they can make reliable tyres after all! But as Pirelli tries to merge into the background, the FIA aren't resting on their laurels and are looking for more ways to improve the show. It looks like double DRS zones are in for the remainder of the season.

One DRS zone isn't enough for the FIA

I'm a big fan of DRS. Any way to improve the show, great. However, I'm a bit sceptical over how the FIA has set this double DRS zone up. A quite incredible Canadian Grand Prix was covered up by the rain and therefore we didn't see the full potential when the double DRS zones made their debut just over a week ago, but from the little dry running we saw at the end, I wasn't really impressed with the setup of the zones.

Prior to the race weekend I was under the impression that if the defending car was overtaken down the first straight, they'd be able to fight back straight away with their own DRS device. However, the one and only detection zone - at the start of the first zone - gives the car behind access to DRS for both zones. Michael Schumacher was helpless eventually in his defence against Webber and a rejuvinated Button as Schumi lost two positions in the space of seconds. While Button's overtake wasn't done and dusted until the second DRS zone, Webber had the job completed before the final chicane and was then able to pull away once he was given access to open his letterbox up again. Schumacher didn't stand a chance and, to the anguish of his fans, he just missed out on his first comeback podium.

The two zones in Valencia are a little spaced apart from each other, with a slow three corner section separating the two longest straights on the circuit. However, the one detection zone remains. Why the FIA haven't added another detection point just before the second zone is beyond me. The straights aren't going to be short, and the gains for the car that crosses the detection zone within a second of the car in front is going to be huge. The overtake will be completed down the first straight and then they can pull out a sizeable gap in the second straight so the losing car can't fight back on the next lap.

It's not as if we don't see overtaking anywhere except the DRS straight. We've seen such a variety of overtakes in places which were quite unusual in past seasons. Monaco, for instance, we saw more overtakes at parts of the track where there wasn't a DRS zone so it's not as if the sport is depending on DRS to generate all of the excitement. The introduction of a double DRS zone may be with good intentions to try and increase the spectacle, but I think it's going to cause quite the opposite if the FIA don't get it right.