A thoughtful shot credit: LAT/Autosport

Robert Kubica. One of the most difficult races to pick so far this year. Alonso certainly isn’t worthy of it, Massa disqualified himself by moving over, Vettel went backwards from the start, Hamilton and Button weren’t particularly stellar and Webber carried a problem throughout much of the race.

We suppose, by default, it has to go to Kubica. Again the best of the rest, the general feeling around the paddock is that he’s getting more out of the car than there is to be given. However, it’s somewhat difficult to tell when he’s thoroughly outclassing his team mate at every turn.

He really deserves to be put in a championship winning car, just to have a shot at it. Sadly for him, the McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull drives look to be locked up for next season, if not beyond. The next option, Mercedes, appear to have their driver line up settled for next year barring another Schumacher retirement, which isn’t something Kubica was or should be willing to hang around for.

His best option, Ferrari, went for a man they knew would play second fiddle to Alonso, not something we can see Kubica doing. “Here’s a potentially championship winning car, Robert, but do us a favour and don’t actually win in it, will you? Just get out of the way when His Magnificence Sir Fernando Alonso moans a bit.” No, we can’t see it happening either.

Therefore, we at Badger think he’s done exactly the right thing in committing to Renault and we’d be very surprised if he didn’t have a clause or two in his contract authorising his release should a ‘big’ team come in for him.

Sadly, and it’s very much a reflection of the race we endured at the weekend, there’s not that much more to say.

Part 3 finds us at the wrong end of the grid with the new teams and Force India.

The image that defined a season? credit: Sutton Images/Autosport

Force India

• Qualifying: Sutil (19^th – including a five place grid penalty) Liuzzi (21^st)
• Race: Liuzzi (16^th) Sutil (17^th)

This weekend was not what you’d call ideal. In fact, it was probably one of the worst race weekends Force India have ever had to endue. Just to give you a picture of their strife, here’s a brief breakdown of their problems.

Sutil was forced to sit out practice 3 on Saturday morning due to problems with his drivetrain, which then led to a gearbox change. This meant that even before qualifying he knew he was going to be docked five places. Then, during qualifying, Liuzzi managed to smash up his car fairly comprehensively, so qualified 21^st. Sadly, it was only going to get worse (and considerably more embarrassing).

Come the race, the two team mates touched into the first corner, meaning Sutil didn’t make up any places and Liuzzi thought he’d damaged his front wing. They both then headed to the pits – Sutil for a change of tyres to get his stop out of the way and Liuzzi, unsurprisingly, for a new front wing.

Cue a mix up in the pits and one of Liuzzi’s super soft tyres was fitted to Sutils car. Cue another round of pitstops to correct the error and a referral to the stewards.

Carnage.

Badger’s best: Liuzzi

Virgin

• Qualifying: Glock (23^rd) di Grassi (24^th)
• Race: Glock (18^th) di Grassi (ret)

Another tale of woe for the Virgin team.

Glock managed to accrue a ten-place grid penalty in qualifying for changing the gear ratios. Really guys, how did you manage that? In the search for last place, he was only saved by his team mate not entering a lap in qualifying at all due to more gearbox problems.

The race was slightly more positive for young Lucas, making up four places at the start and generally being quite quick (relatively, anyway), until his suspension went. Cue yet another retirement.

Glock managed to get himself stuck behind Senna’s HRT until the pit stops and from then on maintained a steady if unspectacular pace. He made a very reasonable point after the race, saying he hopes the team “can find a way to get a smoother build-up over the weekend because it will make life a lot easier.” Never a truer word was spoken.

Badger’s best: Glock

HRT

• Qualifying: Senna (20^th) Yamamoto (22^nd)
• Race: Senna (19^th) Yamamoto (ret)

It was decided this weekend that everyone’s favourite Indian driver (sorry Narain Karthikeyan…) should take a break, to allow Yamamoto to stay and Senna to return. They’re just going crazy at HRT, aren’t they?

Not a terribly exciting weekend. Bruno thought he did well in qualifying, but presumably would have still only beaten his team mate in normal conditions. He got a slow puncture during the race, but managed to finish. Yamamoto had problems with his gearbox and retired reasonably early on.

While they keep changing their drivers, it’s going to be hard to compare their respective pace. When we’ll start to take a proper interest is if/when Klien gets put in the car.

Badger’s best: Senna

Lotus

• Qualifying: Trulli (17^th) Kovalainen (18^th)
• Race: Kovalainen (ret) Trulli (ret)

A mixed weekend for the Lotus team -  a good performance by Trulli in qualifying (nearly a second faster than Kovalainen) was followed by another gearbox failure early in the race and another retirement.

Kovalainen didn’t really have much pace throughout the weekend, with his main contribution being thwacking de la Rosa as he was being lapped.

All that said, Lotus are still the quickest of the new teams by quite a margin.

Badger’s best: Trulli

Badger’s series of team and driver analysis: The Top Dogs, the Chasing Dogs and the Sleeping Dogs…

The second part of this week’s Hot Rod or Hot Dog sees us taking a look at the midfield runners from Germany.

Still the best of friends? credit: LAT/Autosport

Mercedes

• Qualifying: Rosberg (9^th) Schumacher (11^th)
• Race: Rosberg (8^th) Schumacher (9^th)

A team now going backwards at quite a lick, it seems clear Mercedes have begun to focus on next year’s car to the detriment of this year’s model. From talking of the “big four” teams at the beginning of the year, we’re now down to the “big three”, with Mercedes not even certain of having the fourth quickest car on the grid any more.

At the home race for both Schumacher and Rosberg, both drivers were fairly evenly matched again, but it’s the younger of the two who continues to get more out of the car. What was Schumacher’s rustiness has now developed into his lack of testing time, rather than perhaps the more obvious answer that Rosberg is quicker.

On a completely different note, Rosberg will be hoping that they get it right next year. If he was going to trundling around in the midfield, he may as well have stayed at Williams.

Badger’s best: Rosberg

Sauber

• Qualifying: Kobayashi (12^th) de la Rosa (14^th)
• Race: Kobayashi (11^th) de la Rosa (14^th)

A frustrating race for Kamui Kobayashi by his own account. However, we at Badger see this as a positive sign for both him and the team. Frustration implies a hope of better things; something in very short supply earlier in the season.

Both drivers complained about the tyres after the race, remarking on the lack of grip offered when the car was fully fueled. However, both then had quite separate moans. Kamui was left to bemoan the car’s lack of top speed while fighting with Schumacher and Petrov, while Pedro was looking good for a very racy end to the Grand Prix after coming in for soft tyres close to the end. However, it all fell apart a bit when he was lapping Heikki Kovalainen, who closed the door on him while being lapped, leaving Pedro to come into the pits for a change of front wing with the knowledge his afternoon was thoroughly wrecked.

Overall, Kobayashi was quicker again, as expected. He’s cementing his place for next season (if sponsorship money hadn’t already done that) and putting Pedro under pressure. Just how cheap can he be?

Badger’s best: Kobayashi

Williams

• Qualifying: Barrichello (8^th) Hulkenberg (10^th)
• Race: Barrichello (12^th) Hulkenberg (13^th)

Another team who’ve made a large leap forward in recent races, but who slipped into bad old habits in Germany. It’s all very well starting in the top 10, but if you can’t stay there it rather defeats the point of being there in the first place.

Let’s start with the good. Two cars in the top ten is a result, if not a massive result in fact. Even Hulkenberg got himself in there.

Now, the not so good. Both drivers’ races were spoiled by their starts and, having lost track position, the car was quick enough to keep up but not to pass. That said, you’d have to have been driving a rocket ship to pass at Hockenheim, so we at Badger wouldn’t feel too sorry for yourselves, chaps. On another note, Hulkenberg described the race as “uneventful”. You’re telling us, Nico.

Badger’s best: Barrichello

Toro Rosso

• Qualifying: Alguersuari (15^th) Buemi (16^th)
• Race: Alguersuari (15^th) Buemi (ret.)

Quite an interesting race for the Toro Rosso team, all things considered.

Having seen some of the bigger teams get involved with scraps between the drivers, Alguersuari and Buemi obviously wanted some of the action. It’s probably best we let the drivers tell it in their own words:

JA: “I was on the inside going into Turn 6 and I braked well leaving enough space, but there seemed to be some problems in front of me, as the cars ahead all slowed much more than is normal. I braked again, but it was not enough and I drove into him [Buemi]. Naturally, I am sorry for that.”

SB: “I made a really good start and was able to pass three or four cars and then when we came to the hairpin, I was braking in the middle of the corner and my team-mate came from a long way back and ended up driving onto the top of my car.”

As you can see, a slight difference of interpretation. What they really needed to do was both go out and have some fisticuffs – that would have made it a lot more interesting. They’re both in helmets after all, so we at Badger think it would have been fine. A tip for next time, lads.

After all of that nonsense, Jaime trailed round to finish fifteenth. Needless to say he’s now “looking forward” to Hungary and doubtless having someone taste his food.

Badger’s best: Alguersuari

(c) Darren Heath

Many of you have been quite rightly angry about the incident.  Some disagree with the order being given at all, given that it was exactly a year since Massa’s life-threatening accident and was quite frankly a lot better than Alonso for the majority of the grand prix.

Some of you object to the crass way in which it was handled, with engineer Rob Smedley left to do the dirty work and making it very clear he wasn’t happy about doing it.  And possibly even more of you got properly narked when the Ferrari team proceeded to attempt the worst cover-up in the history of F1.  We certainly learnt one thing about Ferrari last weekend: they can’t lie for toffee.

Of course, there are some big Ferrari fans out there, and it has been interesting to gauge their reactions to the incident.  “The team comes first” has been the party line from Ferrari, but they would have had the full 43 points whether Massa or Alonso stood on the top step.  The switch only bolsters Alonso’s quest for the drivers’ championship.

For Massa fans it was a dark weekend.  What could, and should, have been a triumphant return to form a year to the day from the crash ended with Felipe’s reputation in some confusion.  Was it really “magnanimous” of him to give Alonso the lead, as Rob Smedley told him over the radio, or does it expose him to ridicule for not having the guts to go for a world championship himself?  We’re barely past the half-way mark of the season, and already Massa has ruled himself out.  Perhaps Massa should take a leaf out of Mark Webber’s book and go for the win anyway and suffer the wrath of the team later?  If he wants to call himself World Champion one day he will have to be that ruthless.

(c) Sutton

The Team Orders debate: were Ferrari out of order?

As many of you have pointed out, team orders have always happened in Formula 1, despite being ‘banned’ fully in 2002.  Here’s a selection of reader comments on the debate:

“If Fernando is as good a driver as he claims to be then he should be able to pass his teammate properly” – Spud

“There is still so much more to play for in this season’s championship, and there is no need for this to happen with 200 points still available in the season” – Richard Sobey

“Despite what has happened “in the past” the rules are quite clear that ‘team orders’ should play no part in the final position of the participants whilst the race is conducted” – Badvok

“The worst ‘crime’ here though is the inept way Ferrari executed the team orders” – Carlostastic Racing

Let’s get things back in order?

So should regulation 39.1 be repealed if it is effectively worthless?  The WMSC are yet to rule on this occasion, but with former Ferrari-boss Jean Todt at the helm of the FIA it seems extremely unlikely that Ferrari will get anything more than a slap on the wrist.  If indeed no action is taken is it even worth having the rule there at all if it does not serve purpose?

Perhaps not, but this incident has got everyone talking, and sometimes shouting, about the future of the ‘Team Orders’ rule.  If team orders are so prevalent, then should it be repealed?  Or should Ferrari just have some lessons in PR and the art of concealment?  In the words of Lotus chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne, “the bottom line is if you are going to do it then do so far more cleverly than they did.”

And here’s one more thought: had the race been, well, a bit racier would we have even cared so much about this incident?  Perhaps it all got blown way out of proportion simply because the 2010 German grand prix was such a yawn-fest?

Image credits: Sutton images and Darrren Heath

Badger’s series of team and driver analysis: The Top Dogs, the Chasing Dogs and the Sleeping Dogs.  First of all, here’s the Top Dogs after Germany

So, Hockenheim – to be honest, the racing wasn’t that interesting and your correspondent actually dozed off at one point (don’t worry, the wonders of modern technology allowed for rewinding). However, thankfully for this article and the wider F1 press, Ferrari managed to generate reams of copy by trying to play God yet again. When will they learn?

A picture is worth a thousand words... credit: Autosport/Sutton Images

Ferrari

• Qualifying: Alonso (2^nd) Massa (3^rd)
• Race: Alonso (1^st) Massa (2^nd)

Okay. Deep breath. The story of the race up to that incident is quickly told. Both Massa and Alonso beat Vettel off the line to take first and second respectively. They then trundled round until their pit stops, pitted and returned to the same positions.

Then on lap 49 Massa deliberately slowed to allow Alonso through after an instruction from the pit wall and sparked the incident that’s got F1 in the papers for all the wrong reasons.

The story’s genesis can really be traced back to Felipe Massa’s signing of a new two-year contract earlier this year. “That’s a bit odd” we thought, “he’s been no great shakes this season.” Now the reasons for that have become abundantly clear. Massa is a number two driver to Alonso, presumably only kept on to please the moody Spaniard who, after his season at McLaren, clearly doesn’t relish having a competitive team mate. Quick enough to be World Champion again, certainly, but willing to race for it? Not a chance.

The issue itself is different to Ferrari’s Austrian switch in 2002. For a start, it’s clear to anyone watching F1 this season that Alonso is quicker than Massa and that he needs the points, which Schumacher simply didn’t in 2002. Nevertheless, at only just over half way through the season, and with Massa clearly able to hold off Alonso for the race victory, the whole thing is decidedly murky. So you’re faster than him, Fernando? Well then, get into gear and pass him. Don’t go whining to the team to make him move over. Just as an aside, it’s against the rules. What price fixing a race? $100,000 you say? We’ll take four.

Then, to top it all off, came Ferrari’s insistence that it was purely Felipe’s decision. Come. Off. It. If you’re going to do it, don’t insult the intelligence of everyone watching. It’s not nice. Rob Smedley was presumably saying sorry for something in no way connected to making a not-terribly-well-coded radio message.

Grubby.

Badger’s best: Massa

Red Bull

• Qualifying: Vettel (1^st) Webber (4^th)
• Race: Vettel (3^rd) Webber (6^th)

Another race in which Red Bull managed to spoil their qualifying performance and come home lower than they started.

Vettel’s qualifying lap was brilliant, no doubt about it. However, there’s really no point in it if you then can’t sustain it. Then it becomes only a stat, a record to be cited in forthcoming seasons that no one will remember. Vettel said after the race that he got the maximum out of the car, but when Webber is finishing sixth and if he really wants to press home his advantage, he should have done better.

Webber, for his part, wasn’t really on form all weekend. Jumped by Hamilton and Button and then suffering from an oil consumption problem, he’ll just be glad Vettel could only manage third. A quieter weekend for the Red Bull drivers, but you get the feeling that their own personal battle isn’t finished. Expect more fireworks. Hopefully big ones.

Badger’s best: Vettel

McLaren

• Qualifying: Button (5^th) Hamilton (6^th)
• Race: Hamilton (4^th) Button (5^th)

When you don’t have the car, you don’t have the car.

A weekend in which the McLarens were never really anywhere near the ultimate pace and struggled to compete with the Ferraris and Red Bulls. Perhaps the upgrades on the car, perhaps the set up they’d gone for (surely no one needs that much of a straight-line speed advantage…), they’ll be looking for a big step in Hungary, lest their grip on the two titles loosens.

Button did well to out qualify Hamilton and was unlucky to be blocked by Vettel around the outside of turn one at the start of the race. After losing a few places and making one back almost immediately, he then ran a long first stint to jump Mark Webber and settled into a groove behind Lewis for a spot of formation flying.

Nothing too much of interest and nothing that tells us anything about the relationship between the two drivers. That’s your lot, folks.

Badger’s best: Hamilton

Renault

• Qualifying: Kubica (7^th) Petrov (13^th)
• Race: Kubica (7^th) Petrov (10^th)

Not bad for the Renault team, again finishing as the best of the rest.

A good scrap with Hamilton at the start led to Kubica losing a couple of places followed by holding off Schumacher. Realistically, barring retirements, seventh was the best he could have hoped for. Seeing as he achieved that, he’s done well. The question beginning to form in our minds is whether he could be going even faster if he had a good team mate to push him. Does it matter that much his team mate, even in a world of flying pigs and fairies, simply is never going to challenge him properly?

Speaking of whom, Petrov managed to score his first point in dry conditions. We’re pretty sure he didn’t enjoy being harangued by his engineer over the radio though. It almost sounded like he was directing the village idiot. Oh for the days of closed radio communications. He wasn’t helped by the fact he thought he was eleventh when he was, in fact, tenth. We suppose that’s a way to increase your happiness when you exit the car…

We still don’t think he’s doing enough to merit a seat next year, so he’s almost in the position of an American politician, having to raise enough money to even have a shot at being selected. It’s all about the roubles.

Badger’s best: Kubica

Victory salute... credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images for Red Bull

Mark Webber. In choosing the weekend’s Hot Rod, we usually like to go for someone you may not have appreciated during the race, who doesn’t drive for one of the top teams and has generally exceeded the capabilities of their car.

This is not one of those weekends.

We simply feel we have to give it to Mark Webber not only for his flawless drive from second place on the grid to victory, or his superb pace all weekend, but for his response to the team moving his new front wing over to his team mate.

Yes, he shouted about it and looked thoroughly miserable, but then he went out and blew the rest of the field away. Comprehensively. He showed just enough respect to Vettel through the first corner to be tolerable and, from then on, never looked back. Even when being chased hard by Hamilton during the opening stint of the race, he didn’t make any mistakes and continued to drive beautifully.

It was the best way to respond and showed the Red Bull management what a minefield they’ve stepped into. If they’d thought about it for more than it took to look into Vettel’s boyish face and give him the wing, they’d have come to the conclusion that each driver had a wing and, if one breaks, that’s tough luck and they get to use the only marginally worse old one.

As a side note, what about Vettel? We at Badger know what F1 drivers are like. Asked “do you want this shiny new piece of kit?”, they’re definitely going to say yes, even if it comes off the back of a truck from North Korea. Now, should Vettel have thought for a second and said, “hang on chaps, this isn’t right”? In an ideal world perhaps, but he cares only whether it’ll help him win the race and the world championship, as Webber does.

When the team management decide to move a piece of kit about, it’s their choice. Could he have fought it? Yes. Would it be unrealistic and, frankly, a touch odd to expect him to, yes.

Whatever happens, we’re in for one great Red Bull ride until the end of the season. Enjoy it.

Read the rest of ‘Hot Rod or Hot Dog’ for a report on each team, in order:

• Part One: The Top Dogs: Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes
• Part Two: Chasing Dogs: Sauber, Toro Rosso, Force India, and Renault
• Part Three: Dogs that need to learn new tricks: Ferrari, Lotus, Virgin, and Hispania

To be honest, he may as well have lined up like this... credit: Sutton Images/Autosport

Ferrari

• Qualifying: Alonso (3^rd) Massa (7^th)
• Race: Alonso (14^th) Massa (15^th)

Another dog of a weekend for the boys in red.

Alonso, after qualifying very well, got off the line so slowly (a problem with the clutch apparently, not his fault…) that he was passed by any number of cars. Then, after passing Kubica while off the track, he was instructed to let Kubica back through, but Kubica was in the process of retiring from the race. He was then given a drive-through penalty instead which coincided with a safety car, equalling a very unhappy Spaniard. In this instance, we at Badger feel sorry for him. It feels wrong. Let’s never speak of this again.

A puncture at the beginning of the race ruined Massa’s efforts and he also spent the afternoon trailing round towards the back. They just can’t quite get it together can they?

Badger thought for the day: If Alonso didn’t clearly want an inferior driver alongside him, would Massa have signed a two year contract recently?

Badger’s best: Alonso

Lotus

• Qualifying: Kovalainen (18^th) Trulli (21^st)
• Race: Trulli (16^th) Kovalainen (17^th)

Fastest of the new teams yet again, the Lotus team will certainly be looking to make inroads next season, especially if a rumoured engine deal with Renault comes off.

Trulli endured a nightmare before qualifying, with his car spending most of the time in the garage being tended to by loving mechanics. We’ll leave it to the man himself to explain what happened: “my pace felt very good, especially when you consider that I didn’t have a chance to work on any set up changes, and I had to get used to the new section of the track in qualifying and during the first part of the race, so I think we all did a pretty good job!” We at Badger agree Jarno.

Kovalainen bemoaned that he wasn’t able to push flat out again because of the traffic (we assume he means people passing him, although we’re not sure, he could mean Glock), although fastest of the new team in qualifying isn’t to be sniffed at.

Badger’s best: Trulli

Virgin

• Qualifying: Glock (19^th) di Grassi (22^nd)
• Race: Glock (18^th) di Grassi (ret)

Another race, another retirement and more disappointment.

Glock did a fairly good job in the race to mix it with the Lotuses, but di Grassi continues to disappoint. If we’d had to bet on a driver being kicked out of the new teams, we’d have gone with him rather than Senna, but then what do we know? Quite.

Not really much more to say; di Grassi thinks the car’s improving, which is nice we suppose.

Badger’s best: Glock (but really the mechanics)

HRT

• Qualifying: Chandhok (23^rd) Yamamoto (24^th)
• Race: Chandhok (19^th) Yamamoto (20^th)

We don’t really know what’s going on here. Senna’s out, but then he’s back for the next race? Is it cash flow problems? Has he said something? What’s going on?

Anyway, his replacement, Yamamoto, he of a not terribly notable F1 career thus far, stepped into the breach and was, as expected, slow. Both he and Chandhok trailed round at the back, Chandhok was slightly faster, and there’s nothing much more to say.

Badger’s best: Chandhok

Read Part One here and check out Part Two as well.  Our Driver of the day to follow to follow shortly…

credit: Sutton Images/Autosport

Sauber

• Qualifying: de la Rosa (9^th) Kobayashi (12^th)
• Race: Kobayashi (6^th) de la Rosa (ret)

After being really quite nasty about Sauber earlier in the season, we have to confess their recent showings have much better, no, scrap that, very impressive. Both cars in and around the top 10 in qualifying and a strong race showing – whatever James Key’s done since taking over, it’s really worked. Hopefully the sponsors will now get on board for next season.

Kobayashi, after his great performance in Valencia and, most importantly, his Hot Rod prize, really performed well again to take a richly deserved sixth place, helped by the safety car and Alonso’s penalty. He’s really come into his own in recent weeks, displaying both speed and calmness in equal measure. It turns out he likes playing it cool as well, saying after the race that he “didn’t find it especially hard, [and] didn’t even sweat.” Alright for some, eh?

Unfortunately for de la Rosa, especially after his ninth place in qualifying, his race rather fell apart (quite literally in fact) when he was hit by Adrian Sutil and proceeded to drop bits of his car all over the circuit. Not ideal and led to the end of his Silverstone adventure.

Badger’s best: Kobayashi

Force India

• Qualifying: Sutil (11^th) Liuzzi (20^th – including a five place grid drop)
• Race: Sutil (8^th) Liuzzi (11^th)

This is another interesting team mate battle that, half way through the season, has swung back and forth. Sutil’s got the upper hand at the moment but Liuzzi’s shown enough promise to make him think twice. We at Badger just aren’t sure whether it’ll be enough to keep him in his race seat next season, especially if Paul di Resta is able to bring some sponsorship money into the team.

A good weekend for Sutil, even though his strategy had to be changed. After starting on the hard tyres with the intention of doing a long stint, he found that they didn’t hold up very well, so he came in for softs and really struggled for the last ten laps of the race or so. He managed to demonstrate yet again that he’s difficult to get past – even Vettel in the far quicker Red Bull wasn’t able to find a way through till the last lap.

Liuzzi’s race was spoilt on Saturday after his penalty for blocking Hulkenberg, although he seemed manically happy after the race, saying how much the enjoyed it and felt like he could have got into the points.

Badger’s best: Sutil

Toro Rosso

• Qualifying: Buemi (16^th) Alguersuari (17^th)
• Race: Buemi (12^th) Alguersuari (ret)

Another race in which Alguersuari qualified between 15^th and 18^th (that’s eight now, in case you were wondering). Going out with the new cars in Q1 isn’t cool. Just say no, Jaime, just say no. He’s very much a race day driver, whose 100% finishing record was brought to an abrupt halt at Silverstone after his brakes went. Not an ideal circuit for that to happen at either.

Buemi enjoyed a miserable time of it, coming out behind Liuzzi after the pit stops, getting stuck and graining his tyres. He was remarkably honest after the race, saying he thought a point would have been possible, but they just didn’t do a very good job. More of this honestly please. We like it.

Another interesting team mate battle here, and one which will be especially interesting as the season progresses. Look out for Alguersuari’s performances after Hungary – it’s where started last season.

Badger’s best: Buemi

Renault

• Qualifying: Kubica (6^th) Petrov (15^th)
• Race: Petrov (13^th) Kubica (ret)

The first time Robert Kubica hasn’t finished a race this season and, therefore, the first time he’s been beaten by Petrov. It’s a bit of a hollow victory, but you know what, Vitaly will take what he’s given. Result.

He’s still treading, much to our chagrin, the well worn comment boards with things like “it’s good to have finished the race because it gives us lots of data and gives me more experience of the track”. Data Vitaly, yes, that’s why you’re there. Data. You’re really like one of those Google streetview cars, just trundling round collecting lots of nice data. Honestly. Unless he a) picks up in the second half of the season or b) finds another massive wedge of cash, he might find himself out of a seat next season.

Kubica, fresh from signing a new contract, retired after 19 laps with a driveshaft problem. Before he departed though, he was involved with Alonso in the main stewards’ controversy of the day, being passed by the Spaniard off the track, resulting in a penalty for the Ferrari man. Apart from that, there wasn’t much else of note. One small thing though Robert. Cheer up, you miserable bastard.

Badger’s best: Kubica

Part One

Part three and Driver of the Day to follow…

Let us know what you think of this innovative and sparkling new method…

Super at Silverstone... credit: Red Bull, Malcolm Griffiths/Getty Images

Red Bull

• Qualifying: Vettel (1^st) Webber (2^nd)
• Race: Webber (1^st) Vettel (7^th)

The racing had to take a back seat this weekend, as Red Bull’s two drivers and the team managed to cause a huge scene by being, quite frankly, idiots.

Dominant in qualifying and the race, the real story of the weekend was the Tale of Two Front Wings. Practice 3 saw Vettel’s front wing decide it didn’t really fancy being stuck to the front of his car (after all, that’s what all the other front wings were doing…how dull) and partly fall off.

Now, seeing as this was one of only two new front wings Red Bull had available and the only other one was on Webber’s car, some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to move the wing from Webber to Vettel. Cue deep and profound anger from Webber and a lot of pointless self-justification from Red Bull. If there were two front wings prior to the weekend and one broke, then having to choose between the drivers would be difficult enough. However, to take the wing off one driver’s car and move it over to the others is ridiculous.

All of that just made Webber’s burst off the line, past Vettel, into the lead and waltz to victory more satisfying. The fact Vettel then got a puncture and had his race ruined was a not too unpleasant side effect. Is Vettel as bad as Red Bull? Did he actively encourage the switch? We’re not sure – let us know what you think below.

Badger’s best: Webber

McLaren

• Qualifying: Hamilton (4^th) Button (14^th)
• Race: Hamilton (2^nd) Button (4^th)

Not the perfect home GP for the McLaren team, but what’re you supposed to do when another team are simply so much faster?

Hamilton had the upper hand on Button all weekend, something that’s no longer a growing trend, but rather is a fully grown fact. Over the last few races Hamilton has looked, and been, faster than the current World Champion.

Another problem for Button, although a nice one to have we concede, is that he’s got very good at salvaging races expertly, which tends to paper over the rather large qualifying cracks. Another poor performance meant that he was always facing a hard task in the race, but it was one he performed, as ever, with aplomb. Is it that he can’t set up the car as well or as quickly as Hamilton, or simply that he’s being outraced? Answers on a postcard…

Well done to Hamilton for staying with Webber for as long as possible and for being the divine instrument responsible for puncturing Vettel’s tyre, but until McLaren find a bit more pace on a Saturday he’s going to find it hard to win without more Red Bull mistakes.

Badger’s best: Hamilton

Mercedes

• Qualifying: Rosberg (5^th) Schumacher (10^th)
• Race: Rosberg (3^rd) Schumacher (9^th)

The worm has turned. Rosberg is back on top, merely cementing that fact over the course of the race. Schumacher, by contrast, still looks off the pace both in terms of raw speed and race craft.

A podium finish for Rosberg (albeit helped by Vettel’s puncture and Alonso’s poor getaway) has to be counted as a great result, especially in terms of how fast their car actually looks. There wasn’t really that much to report for Nico from the race or qualifying – he’s done well, simple as that.

We don’t really want to spend any more time than is absolutely necessary going over old ground, but Schumacher’s looking off the pace. The manner in which he reacted to Jake Humphrey’s question during their “drive-in” interview on the BBC coverage suggested that, not only is he sick of the questions about his performance and future, but that he’s also acquiring quite a defensive posture on it all. Given that a racing seat with a) big manufacturer backing and b) Ross Brawn in charge is at stake, he must be feeling the pressure. Seeing him mugged towards the end for a couple of positions just wasn’t right – it’s like watching your Dad dance like he did thirty years ago.

Badger’s best: Rosberg

Williams

• Qualifying: Barrichello (8^th) Hulkenberg (13^th)
• Race: Barrichello (5^th) Hulkenberg (10^th)

Barrichello’s on a roll. Not only is he beating his young team mate handsomely, he’s also managed a fourth and a fifth place in two consecutive races. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The team really seem to have improved the car massively. From being on the outskirts of the top 10 on a good day, they’ve managed to force themselves upwards into the “take advantage of any of the big three/four teams making a mistake” slot. Let’s just hope they can keep the pace of development up, as to see a Williams on the podium would be a Job Well Done.

Hulkenberg, if we’re honest, continues to disappoint. Perhaps it was the hype, perhaps it’s the fact Willi Weber is his agent but, whatever it was, he’s not living up to it. We imagine he’ll stay at the team next season as he’s not yet proven himself good enough to progress to a top team and Williams kept a similarly young Rosberg around for a while when he wasn’t exactly convincing.

Badger’s best: Barrichello

Parts two, three and Driver of the Day to follow…

Photo credit: Unknown but sourced from classic-days.fr

Happy Birthday to Guy Ligier, founder of the Equipe Ligier F1 team, who’s 80 today! Guy was born in Vichy, France on 12th July 1930. Originally his sporting interest lay in rugby, in which he did rather well playing for the French national team, but then decided he was more of a racer, first on two wheels then soon enough on four. Guy initially raced sports cars before giving F1 a go during the 1960’s, but after two years without much success, he decided he was more suited to life outside the cockpit and so set about building a car and a team to go with it.

The Ligier car debuted in the shape of a Cosworth powered sports car in the early 70’s, coming second at Le Mans, before a bit of a chassis reworking and entering F1 in 1976. With a powerful V12 Matra engine bolted on the rear and Jacques Laffite at the controls, Guy’s team scored their first win in Sweden in 1977. This was one for the history books, in that this was the first time that a French car, with a French engine, with French Sponsorship, driven by a French driver had won an F1 Grand Prix. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t in France! Also, it was a shame that Guy didn’t attend the race and taste the French champagne!

Guy is looking rather comfortable in the driving seat in the picture above, taken at the end of the 1978 season, surrounded by team folk and drivers Jacques Laffite (casual on the left) and Patrick Depailler (smart on the right). More wins followed in 1979 and a runner up spot in the Constructor’s Championship in 1980 was the team’s finest hour, despite sticking a non-French Ford V8 on the back! Laffite came close to the driver’s title in 1981, just being squeezed out by Nelson Piquet Snr in the final race.

Over the years, Guy formed a business alliance with politicians François Mitterrand and Pierre Bérégovoy, and together they sought to bring the French GP to Magny-Cours, and build the Ligier HQ nearby, which was very handy. Then after a lull in results towards the late eighties and early nineties, Guy decided to sell the team to Cyril De Rouvre. Oddly enough, things soon picked up for Equipe Ligier, and with Olivier Panis at the wheel in 1996, he gave the team something to smile about in their final season by winning at Monaco. Heavy rain had washed most of the competitors away, and thankfully there were three drivers left to receive the trophies, one of them being for Panis! The team was soon sold to fellow Frenchman Alain Prost.

In 2000, the Ligier marque resurrected itself with a micro car, before returning to the race track in 2005, in the forms of an F3 car and a sports car. Aside from racing, Guy has built a construction empire with his friends in politics, and made a fortune in selling natural fertiliser! But he’ll always be remembered for those shiny blue racing cars that we know and love. Happy Birthday Guy!