Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton celebrated his third pole position of the season yesterday before being demoted to the last spot on the grid after he was penalized for failing to drive his car all the way back to the garage.  A team member had failed to put in enough fuel to provide a sample at the end of the qualifying session.

Given that on only one occasion since 1991 a driver at the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona has won the race after starting farther back than the front row, it is more than just highly unlikely that Hamilton will not win the race.  He also failed to win the other two races for which he scored pole this year.

Still, how likely is it that Pastor Maldonado, who now starts from pole, will bring the Williams team its first victory since 2004?  Fernando Alonso, the local driver, starts second in a Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton took his third pole position of the season Saturday at the qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix.  Hamilton has not yet won a race, but the pole position gives him a good chance in Sunday's Grand Prix.  All but one of the races in the history of the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona have been won from the front row, and all but one in the last ten years was won from pole position.

The series has returned to Europe for the first time this year, after having its first four races in countries as diverse as China and  Bahrain.

For the first time in years the Formula 1 teams will do in-season testing, in Mugello starting tomorrow.

Testing had ceased for a while in order to help reduce costs in Formula 1. But now it has returned as it was impossible for teams among other things to try out new drivers.  It will be interesting to watch the testing and think about how despite it not being a race, we will be watching to see who comes out on top as the European season begins again.

Testing should get more attention than it does, as we generally forget it is still a competition, and still dangerous like any race.

The Sauber Formula 1 team and the Chelsea FC soccer team today announced that they had joined forces to use the Formula 1 car as a billboard to advertise the soccer team.

"The Sauber F1 Team and Chelsea FC are dealing with many of the same sporting and commercial topics and we want to strengthen each other in these areas," said Monisha Kaltenborn, the Sauber chief executive.  "We are looking forward to exploiting these opportunities, and we congratulate Chelsea on making it to the final of the Champions League."

Interesting, and bound to get a number of soccer fans looking at Formula 1.  Also, I can imagine the star soccer players lining up to join the team in Monaco in another adventure into Stars 'n Cars that F1 and Monaco are so fond of.

Autosport is reporting that strategy is going to be much more important this year for teams to win races thanks to the wearing out of the tires.

Teams have noted also that drivers' observations are going to be much more important in terms of tire wear.  Indeed, with a victory of Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari in the Malaysian Grand Prix, it is clear that not always the fastest car will win, but the driver and his mental approach will no doubt become more important.

As I prepare to fly out of China for Bahrain, and I watch all the news unfold in Bahrain where protest groups demonstrate against the Formula 1 race, and I watch as the Formula 1 circus arrives and sets up, I had a thought.  With all the comments - few of them - coming from teams, drivers and the race organizers about whether or not the series should race in Bahrain despite the difficult social situation, we have heard nothing from the F1 sponsors about the image of racing in the country.  But I guess they are following on the lead of Formula 1 teams and the series itself.  Of course, some of the sponsors come from the Gulf region itself....

This year it is hard to figure out who the midfield is and who are the top runners.  The midfield of the past have go so close to the front - look at Williams and Sauber - and then teams like Force India have been right up there too, despite missing points in China.  I think the midfield battle has become much more exciting this year, and those final laps in the Chinese Grand Prix that were so open to so many teams and drivers are a case in point.

Friday practice sessions at the Formula 1 races are supposed to mean nothing about the real strength of the competitors, since they count for nothing and just act as a preparation test session for the race.  But it is difficult not to see further evidence in Michael Schumacher's rise up to a higher level this year than so far in his return from retirement two years ago.  Schumacher today set the fastest time in the session, and when you add this to his fourth place qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix and then his third place qualifying in Malaysia...well, things are looking pretty good for the Mercedes driver of 43 years old....

As I prepare to fly off to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix I decided to check out the weather forecast online.  At the  moment it says there is a 50 percent chance of rain on the Sunday of the race, next weekend.  Hmm.... could we be in for a third race in a row where the pole sitter fails to win the race, and the safety car is brought out to mix up the cards?  Could be interesting!  Oh, and a third time of all that for Lewis Hamilton?

This year it will all be down to the tires.  We do not have a tire war anymore, but we have a game the F1 teams have to play with tire wear, pit stops, choice of when to use what.  And that will allow for strategy questions to take center stage.  That's how we can explain - a little bit - the sudden rise of the Sauber against the Ferrari, despite both having the same engine.  So many comments about the tire strategy emerged at the Malaysian Grand Prix last weekend that it whets the appetite with prospects for uncertain races to come....