F1 Race Europe - Valencia

The circus has moved onward to the European Grand Prix at Valencia and what a turn round for Renault after the Renaultgate affair in 2008. It is very hot with a track temperature of forty two and air temperature of twenty seven and it will be a hot race for the cars and drivers and it will be interesting to see how the tyres and brakes perform after the last race and the tyre degradation which gave us a great race.

The start will be interesting and hopefully Lewis can mix it up with the Red Bull pair. Most of the teams look as though they are on the softer, Green walled tyres and with two world champions on row two the start will be very interesting around the twenty five turns of the circuit and of course including the swing bridge which is welded up for the race.

As the lights went out Lewis got the drop on Mark and then attacked Sebastian into turn one. they were mighty close and touched twice causing, it would appear damage to the end plate on Lewis's car giving him a front end vibration. This allowed Fernando to attack Lewis and it all got mighty close. Mark dropped down to ninth in all the melee and behind both the William's.

Mark then made an early stop on lap eight to see if they could get him out of the pack. Unfortunately the tyre stop didn't work as it should have as they had a problem getting off the front left wheel. Then came Rosberg on lap nine and after over running his marks they changed all four tyres.

Then on lap ten Mark was coming up to pass Kovalinen at 190 mph and all of a sudden he hit the back of the Lotus which catapulted his Red Bull into the air and over it went and finishing up in the tyre wall. After such an accident it is a testament to the safety in the modern F1 car that Mark got out seemingly unhurt along with Heikki after such a rear impact.

Out came the safety car and a flood of tyre changes, Lewis changed his front spoiler and they all bunched up. Michael lost out as he changed his tyres late and then came in again but Jenson finished fourth.

So in came the safety car and the very mixed up grid launched itself into turn one. Fernando dropped to ninth, Felipe in eighteenth, Michael last but Kamui finished up in third followed by Jenson. So it was now all to play for with most of the race to run.

Both Mercedes are struggling with brakes and Nico had the call the temperature is now critical. This circuit is a brake killer and last year Mark had a disc explode so anything can happen in that department.

Lewis is under investigation during the race for an incident between himself and Fernando who accused him of backing up the pack through the safety car period. Lewis evidently passed the safety car as it came out for Mark's accident and was given a drive through penalty. The instruction went out to Lewis from the pit wall to go for it and close down on Sebastian prior to his stop.

After his stop he still came out in second and immediately started to narrow the fifteen plus seconds gap to Sebastian. With twelve laps remaining it seems all is set to the finish with really none of the cars really in competition. Then it was announced nine cars are under investigation for speeding behind the safety car and the drivers get a Delta time on their steering wheel advising the earliest time they may get to the pits.

Of those nine cars Jenson was also included and any penalties could change the entire finishing positions. Then all of a sudden Lewis through in a 1.37 lap and brought the gap down to Sebastian to only seven seconds.

After a great drive in third place on his original set of tyres Kamui had to pit to change his now worn tyres so he used both tyre compounds. Then with Kamui on his new set of tyres he came out eight behind Fernando and immediately went on the attack as he was so much quicker obviously. He passed Fernando with a great move and immediately up to eighth and then passed Sebastien (B) on the last corner into seventh, great drive.

At the flag Sebastian came across first followed by Lewis and Jenson but we must remember the stewards enquiry and we all await to see if they impose a position penalty in seconds for this race or look at grid slots at Silverstone. So instead of a one, two Mclaren had a two, three which on reflection finished up a great result.

Just a shame Lewis had the ten second penalty or we could have had a great tussle up front. As we leave Valencia and onward to Silverstone the drivers championship tightens at the front with Lewis (127), Jenson (121), Sebastian (115) and the luckless Mark with (103). Then comes Fernando (96), Robert (83), Nico (74), Felipe (67), Michael (34), Adrian (31), Rubens (19). Vitantonio (12), Sebastien B (9), Kamui (7), Vitaly (6), Jaime (3) and finally joined on a single point Nico H & Pedro.

In the constructor's championship Mclaren leave Valencia with 248 points followed by Red Bull (218), Ferrari (163), Mercedes (108), Renault (89), Force India (43), Williams (20), Toro Rosso (12) and finally BMW on eight points.

So we all await Silverstone with a degree of relish with a tight drivers championship on the revised circuit. Bring it on.