Those of you that saw the Monaco Grand Prix today would have seen Michael Schumacher’s gutsy move to overtake Fernando Alonso on the final corner of the final lap to take P6. That in itself would be fine under normal racing conditions, however Schumacher did this after the safety car had dived in.

The stewards (one of those being his old sparring partner, Damon Hill) deemed this to break the rules, despite the race being under normal conditions after the safety car had gone in, last lap or not… Schumacher received a 20 second penalty, leaving him in P12, but did he deserve it?

So the Malaysian Grand Prix didn’t end up a water fest as pretty much everyone predicted. In fact, not a single drop of rain fell during the race. Many also predicted the biggest headline out of the race would be the weather, how awful it was, and how the race time needs to be changed again etc etc.

But that didn’t happen – so the second surprise to pop out was the Red Bull 1-2 finish. Yes, I said finish. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber have both been plagued recently by dodgy cars, causing Vettel in particular to lose two Grand Prix from commanding positions.

Mark Webber has fared better, however he’s had his share of gremlins too in the car, however luckily during practice sessions.

Despite all that, Vettel pipped Webber to the first corner in Sepang after lights out, and the rest they say, was a parade… (well at least for them it was). Neither Vettel nor Webber moved from P1 and P2 respectively throughout the race, and were never bothered at all by the competition.

Vettel’s now infamous “Number 1″ finger pumps told the whole story at the end of the race – he was clearly relieved to have made it (a) to the finish, and (b) in P1 – probably in that order. However, have they just got lucky this time, or have the Red Bull team figured out their issues with reliability? If it’s the latter, we can say goodbye to the championship race – it’ll all be about the Red Bulls.

That said, they were let off a bit this time over. Both Ferraris and McLarens were starting from pretty much the back of the pack, and had some 10+ cars to go through before getting close to the podiums. Lewis Hamilton predictably steamed through the pack, making up a large number of places, with team mate Jenson Button going backwards, forwards, backwards.

The Ferrari boys also rued their decision on Saturday, which ultimately screwed their race on Sunday. Fernando Alonso’s engine blowout on the penultimate lap was the signing off of a terrible weekend for the team, who were hoping to be back up there. The BBC even reported that it almost looked like Alonso forced the blowout after a frustrating race.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg needs a mention. Other than the rolling headline that never disappears that he finished ahead of his team mate (you know, Schumacher), he actually finished P3, grabbing the first Mercedes GP podium this year.

What this has done is setup an interesting top 3 in the drivers championship. A top 3 which actually holds 5 drivers:

1. Felipe Massa (39)
2. Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Vettel (37)
3. Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg (35)

That’s pretty tight, and hold’s the top 4 teams. It’s anyones game right now, but could we call it this early? Let’s have a vote:

Current F1 World Champion Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix today, his second race for team McLaren. Button won the action packed Grand Prix after making an early split decision around moving to dry tyres, the first driver to do so, and lived to tell that tale with the greatest of outcomes.

Many wrote off his chances as he came out of the pits, after Button skidded into the gravel trap on turn 3, but that soon disappeared as the track came to him and he made his way through the pack.

Many had complained about the dull opening race in Bahrain 2 weeks ago, and Australia did not disappoint. From lights out the action was there, light rain and a slippery track with Fernando Alonso cutting up Button on turn 1, causing his Ferrari to bump into Michael Schumacher, and then spin 180 degrees. Both drivers ended up at the back of the pack.

Shortly after the Alonso incident, Kamui Kobayashi lost his front wing under the front of his car causing him to smash into Sebastian Buemi and Nico Hulkenberg. All three drivers were out of the race, causing an immediate safety car.

Once action resumed Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica looked like the drivers on the move. Hamilton (starting from 11th) was already up 4 or 5 places by the safety car, and soon made mincemeat of his team mate.

However, Button came out on top, making a critical decision on tyres at exactly the right time, taking full advantage. Subsequently everyone followed suit including race leader Sebastian Vettel. Button’s quick thinking got him back up rankings upto P2 by the time all the pit stops had completed.

Shortly after the picture changed for the Red Bull’s with race leader Vettel retiring after what seemed to be a left front break pad failure. This gave Button pole position, and he kept that until the chequered flag.

Around 40 laps in many teams decided to come in for some fresh dry tyres as the rears were going off, however race leader Button, the two Ferrari’s and Kubica allotted to stay out on what they had. At this point this again seemed like the wrong decision, with Hamilton and Mark Webber, now on fresh tyres, quickly catching them up.

With 10 laps to go both Hamilton and Webber were up behind the two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Alonso in P3 and P4 respectively, however Hamilton was really struggling to get past. Hamilton began to rue the decision made by his McLaren team to bring him in for fresh tyres, coming onto the radio demanding who had made the decision.

Shortly after, with 3 laps to go Hamilton had his opportunity to overtake Alonso, however the Ferrari driver quickly shut the McLaren driver down. Unfortunately for Hamilton, a speedy Webber was close behind and misjudged the breaking distance, piling into the McLaren at speed. This forced both cars into the gravel trap, with Webber losing his front wing.

This mistake by Webber was the final insult to a torrid race for the Australian. After starting in P2, Webber struggled throughout the race seemingly taking 1 step forward, but 2 steps back. This ultimately led to Webber finishing a measly 9th spot, only bringing home 2 points for Red Bull who up until lights out appeared to be on for a 1-2 finish for the team.

Australia was all about the McLaren boys though, with Button’s quick thinking, and Hamilton’s heroic battle to push through – the excitement of the race revolved around these two. Hamilton made some spectacular overtaking moves, taking Nico Rosberg in the seemingly unusual turn 12. It could have likely been a McLaren 1-2 after the Red Bull’s faded, however the second pit stop after all did ruin Hamilton’s chances.

An exciting race after the disappointment of Bahrain – however we have the weather to thank for a lot of that. It clearly caused the strategies of the teams to change everywhere, and added that extra piece of unexpected action to the race.

It’s still too early to tell whether the new no-refuelling rules have ruined the excitement of F1 for the immediate future, let’s get a few more races under our belt to make a decision on that.

7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher is still feeling the heat after a moderate qualifying position in Bahrain. Expectations are high, with the Mercedes driver admitting that he’s just not there yet. Schumacher told reporters after qualifying:

“I just need to get the rhythm, although slowly and progressively it has improved, but it’s challenging and that’s a good thing.

It’s just having the rhythm and having this fine-tuning and getting the car to your liking. Just make perfect use of what you have available.”

Schumacher has struggled all weekend trying to keep up with younger team mate Nico Rosberg – who on average was 4/10ths of a second up on him on nearly all hot laps. On Friday Schumacher admitted he was not happy with that at all, and Saturday expressed that he felt like an newbie all over again:

“I feel like I just started in Formula 1. In Valencia during the first lap I was a bit shocked, but then I was straight back into it and felt very comfortable and it was exactly as it was in 1991 in a way”

Fans of F1 certainly expected more – a P1 and nothing less no doubt. We do need to remember though that this guy hasn’t driven an F1 car for a few years – he might be the best driver to ever race in F1, but he’s human, and we all get a bit rusty if we don’t do something for a while.

We’re giving him 3 races before he starts really giving hell with the Mercedes, and playing up there with the top boys!

The first practise sessions of the 2010 Formula One Grand Prix season began today in Bahrain, with many of the teams eager to see how their cars would perform in the blistering desert heat.

In Practise session 1 Adrian Sutil was the man on top, beating Fernando Alonso to the P1 position by some 0.325 seconds. New entrants Hispania struggled to keep anywhere near the pace of the other runners, having to use the practise sessions effectively as shake downs to their new car. Hispania were unable to have their car ready for any of the pre-season testing sessions.

In session 2 Nico Rosberg headed up the table, 0.445 seconds faster than closest rival Lewis Hamilton. In fact, in both practise sessions Rosberg beat his team mate, Michael Schumacher by nearly half a second – something Schumacher was not best pleased about:

“Nico was four-tenths up and that is a bit too much for my standards. I’ve got to raise my game a bit and I’m sure I’m able to.”

Out of any man on the grid, you can believe that Schumacher can pull that one out of the bag. Nevertheless, he finished practice 2 in P3.

The Ferrari’s fared well in session 1, however session 2 was not so great for the team – finishing 7th and 9th. Alonso afterwards commented that he was unclear on who would be up there during qualifying:

“Out of the four big teams, any can be on pole. And there could be a surprise like Force India, who seem very quick on this type of circuit.”

McLaren also didn’t disappoint with both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button feeling happy with the car. Both drivers finished in the top 6 in both sessions, moving into Saturday with a lot of confidence that their new car for 2010 is solid, and consistent.

Most unsurprising out of the two sessions was the performance of the newer teams, Virgin Racing, Lotus and Hispania. All 3 teams ended the sessions fighting for the last 6 places on the grid, with Hispania’s Karun Chandhok not even getting a drive on Friday.

It’s all still out there to play for, with the 4 big teams still very close. Outsiders Force India and Williams both have a chance at interrupting the play in Saturday’s qualifying session – it’s going to be a really exciting one!

With just over 1 week until the first Grand Prix race of the 2010 season in Bahrain, we thought it’s be a nice idea to summarise what’s happened between Jenson Button’s 2009 Championship win, and now.

Teams

Shortly after the end of the 2009 season, Japanese team Toyota announced that they would no longer take part in Formula One due to financial reasons. This left drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock without a drive. Previous to this, BMW Sauber had also announced that they were also pulling out of F1 due to BMW not wanting to take part, again leaving drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica looking for jobs.

Sauber however managed to salvage the team, bringing it to F1 in 2010 – Although the team lost both drivers in the process, as well as the BMW Engine. Sauber are still registered as BMW Sauber, despite the lack of BMW – choosing to use a Ferrari engine instead.

Constructers champions Brawn GP were also bought out by German car manufacturer Mercedes, renaming the team Mercedes GP. Ross Brawn stays in his position as Team Principal.

4 new teams were billed to join the 2010 season, Virgin Racing, Campos (Now HRT Racing), US F1, and Lotus. US F1 recently announced that they are pulling out of the 2010 season, being unable to complete their development programme in time, and now focussing on a 2011 entry. It is understood that Stefan GP attempted to take the remaining slot on the F1 grid, however the FIA rejected their entry based on the time before the first race (some 2 weeks).

Drivers

The first major scalp in the driver juggle was Kimi Raikkonen. Mid 2009 season Ferrari announced that Renault driver Fernando Alonso would be joining the team, leaving Raikkonen without a 2009 race seat. Raikkonen was understood to only want a seat in one of two available cars, the Brawn or McLaren – however neither deal was made (likely due to the high price Raikkonen was commanding) and Raikkonen left F1 (albeit maybe temporarily).

The second biggest shock of the driver reshuffle was the move of 2009 championship winner Jenson Button over to McLaren. He joins the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton for an all British line-up. Widely seen as a risky move, time will tell if this change was a good one for Button.

The final big news was the announcement of Michael Schumacher to the Mercedes GP team. Schumacher returns out of retirement for 3 years to lead an all German lineup with Nico Rosberg as his partner. Schumacher originally planned an F1 return in 2009 when Felipe Massa pulled out after an accident, however was unable to due to suffering a neck injury after a motorbike accident.

Remaining driver positions can be seen in our Guide to 2010 driver lineups.

Important Rule Changes

• Refuelling has been banned during the race. Drivers will only be able to pitstop with problems and tyre changes.
• The top ten drivers to qualify for the race must start the race on the same set of tyres that quaified with.
• A new points system is now in place (see here)
• KERS, although not banned by the FIA, will not be used by FOTA teams in 2010.
• A Grand Prix can now take upto 26 cars.
• Wheel covers are banned on all cars.
• Front tyres have been slightly narrowed in comparison to rear tyres
• No testing rules have been slightly amended to allow any backup drivers 1 day of testing on a circuit not part of the 2010 season in order to prepare them for racing.

Circuit Changes

British GP track Donington pulled out of hosting the 2010 GP, and any future ones after they could not secure the funding for the endeavour. After weeks of speculation, and the chance of no British Grand Prix on the timetable, an agreement was placed between F1 Administration and Silverstone to host the British GP for the next 17 years.

The Canadian Grand Prix will return in 2010. Fuji Speedway was also due to host the 2010 Japanese GP, however track owners Toyota pulled out of this as well, leaving Suzuka to continue holding the race.

Finally, South Korea will host its first GP at the Korean International Circuit in the latter part of the season.

Ex BMW-Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld has confirmed that he will join newly formed Mercedes GP as their reserve driver, sealing the all German lineup with Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Nick said,

“I am very pleased to be joining the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team. It’s the team which has attracted the most interest in the close season, not only because of the comeback of Michael Schumacher, but also because this season sees the return of the Silver Arrows cars as a Mercedes-Benz works team for the first time in over fifty years. Whilst I would of course have preferred a seat as an active driver, I am really proud to be part of the new Silver Arrows team. I have seen how committed everyone at the team is and I feel the same. I will be doing my very best to support Michael and Nico this year”

Heidfeld suffered a pretty terrible season in 2009, with his first retirement of his F1 career, which was a great record. Whilst always managing to finish races, Heidfeld has failed to make it as a race winner on all occasions, and has only managed 12 podiums in his 10 years in Formula 1.

Mercedes Grand Prix have announced that they will launch their 2010 challenger on 25th January.

The launch will take place at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart. The car will debut at the Valencia circuit on 1st February, at the first pre season test.

The Mercedes team will race under the Mercedes name this season after purchasing reigning world champions Brawn GP.

Niki Lauda believes that Michael Schumacher will be competitive in his bid eighth world championship, but he is not willing to bet on it.

The 60-year-old Austrian Lauda returned successfully in the 80s to win his third and last title in 1984. He said in German newspaper Bild:

“Everything depends on the car, and at the end of last season Vettel had the best one. What is for sure is that there are many more strong drivers in the field now than in Schumacher’s last years.

“There’s no question he can keep up. But I’m betting no money.”

With the now confirmed news that the 7 times World Champion, Michael Schumacher will return to Formula One in 2010, what do you think about all of this? Are you ecstatic with joy, a big fan of the man, or are you fuming that this man can even dream of setting wheels on a track again?

Opinion was divided on whether you thought he’d be back – and we all know the answer now to that little question.