Qualifying recap
Not a whole lot happened on Saturday and trust me that's a phrase I could use to describe the entire weekend. Mercedes and Ferrari both showed that their developments from the three week break were what they needed to move them closer to McLaren in the now almost inevitable fight for 2nd. I don't know why Ferrari chose to use Q1 to briefly test updates. They would get more data from a run in the race than from a single flying lap. McLaren or maybe Lewis showed that the biggest thing learned from China was just quickly forgot it in some daft attempt to get on the front row of the grid. You don't get any extra points for starting on pole what matters is how you finish and someone at McLaren forgot the most basic part of motor racing.
Race recap
In more ways than one I'm reminded about 10 years ago. In 2001 a certain German ran off with the Championship and F1 was in a dark period with races being a forgone conclusion and worst of all... boring (dun dun dun). Ross Brawn pointed this out several weeks ago but it bears repeating. Red Bull have found something completely legal that put them streets ahead of the rest of the pack and now the McLarens and Ferraris need to spend millions to just catch up to them.
Speaking of Schumacher its nice to see old habits die hard when he bent his own nose out of shape at the start of the race and never recovered. I figured out why he isn't as good as he used to be. He isn't used to racing other drivers up close and personal. He used to run off with the weekend with pole and a lights to flag lead. Jim Clark had the same problem back in the day only he never played bumper cars with his rivals when they were better than him.
Last year everyone and their dog was talking about Red Bull butting horns. What's interesting is that this year even though it wont be as highly publicised is the fact that a crack has appeared at the team formally known as Renault. Petrov pushed Heidfeld almost into the pits early on and both drivers made feelings clear with shaking of fists across the tarmac.
Next stop for the F1 circus is Spain and Alonso will be in very high spirits as Ferrari have the upper hand as the fight for 2nd place opens up.
