The most unpredictable of starts!- Mark Blundell

June 25, 2012

The 2011 F1 season came and went and what a season it was! Vettel made history with his 15 pole positions and became the youngest back-to-back World Champion we have ever had in F1. We also had some simply amazing examples of what makes these drivers the best in the world, such as Jenson’s drive from the back of the field in Canada. So as we all settled down to enjoy the Christmas festivities it looked like it would be hard to top such a season. How wrong we were, and instead what we have had in the first third of the season is one of the closest-fought and exciting starts to the F1 season in its history.
We have had seven different winners in seven different races, which has never been seen before in the history of F1 before, and is making the eventual Championship winner impossible to predict.
Four of these winners are past World Champions and with two other World Champions on this year’s grid (Schumacher and Raikkonen) we could easily see all six World Champions winning races by the end of the year.  Both the Mercedes and Lotus teams have proved their pace with Rosberg winning in China and Raikkonen getting podium finishes in Bahrain and Spain so it may not be that much longer until Schumacher and Raikkonen make it a full house.
Not only are we seeing a completely unpredictable season results-wise, we are also seeing some of the closest qualifying and racing we have seen in F1 in a long time. After Vettel’s utter dominance in qualifying last year it is great for the sport that we head into each race not knowing who will be putting in the fastest lap come Saturday afternoon.
Despite the uncertainty of knowing who will be standing on the top of the podium at the end of each race, it comes as no surprise to see that McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing drivers are currently at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings. Just three Championship points separate the top three drivers! McLaren and Red Bull Racing had the best start to the season and arguably again produced the best cars out of the box. However you can never underestimate Ferrari, and Alonso has already had one win and another two podium finishes which is why he has managed to climb up the standings to second place.
The development in F1 never stops and with the Mercedes of Rosberg and the Lotus of Raikkonen hot on the heels of McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari, the Championship standings could look very different in just a few races time.
At the opposite end of the grid, Caterham, Marussia and HRT are continuing to chase their first points of the season. Caterham are bringing a number of upgrades to the next race in Valencia and with a 13th place finish in Monaco they are not far off achieving that first point.
F1 now enters the European stage of the season. Will we see an eighth different winner in Valencia? Well no one predicted seven different winners out of seven races and Lotus have looked very strong in two of the past three races so we could well see the Ice Man back up on the top step of the podium to make it eight out of eight.

The 2011 F1 season came and went and what a season it was! Vettel made history with his 15 pole positions and became the youngest back-to-back World Champion we have ever had in F1. We also had some simply amazing examples of what makes these drivers the best in the world, such as Jenson’s drive from the back of the field in Canada. So as we all settled down to enjoy the Christmas festivities it looked like it would be hard to top such a season. How wrong we were, and instead what we have had in the first third of the season is one of the closest-fought and exciting starts to the F1 season in its history.

We have had seven different winners in seven different races, which has never been seen before in the history of F1 before, and is making the eventual Championship winner impossible to predict.

Four of these winners are past World Champions and with two other World Champions on this year’s grid (Schumacher and Raikkonen) we could easily see all six World Champions winning races by the end of the year.  Both the Mercedes and Lotus teams have proved their pace with Rosberg winning in China and Raikkonen getting podium finishes in Bahrain and Spain so it may not be that much longer until Schumacher and Raikkonen make it a full house.

Not only are we seeing a completely unpredictable season results-wise, we are also seeing some of the closest qualifying and racing we have seen in F1 in a long time. After Vettel’s utter dominance in qualifying last year it is great for the sport that we head into each race not knowing who will be putting in the fastest lap come Saturday afternoon.

Despite the uncertainty of knowing who will be standing on the top of the podium at the end of each race, it comes as no surprise to see that McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing drivers are currently at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings. Just three Championship points separate the top three drivers! McLaren and Red Bull Racing had the best start to the season and arguably again produced the best cars out of the box. However you can never underestimate Ferrari, and Alonso has already had one win and another two podium finishes which is why he has managed to climb up the standings to second place.

The development in F1 never stops and with the Mercedes of Rosberg and the Lotus of Raikkonen hot on the heels of McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari, the Championship standings could look very different in just a few races time.

At the opposite end of the grid, Caterham, Marussia and HRT are continuing to chase their first points of the season. Caterham are bringing a number of upgrades to the next race in Valencia and with a 13th place finish in Monaco they are not far off achieving that first point.

F1 now enters the European stage of the season. Will we see an eighth different winner in Valencia? Well no one predicted seven different winners out of seven races and Lotus have looked very strong in two of the past three races so we could well see the Ice Man back up on the top step of the podium to make it eight out of eight.

About Mark Blundell:

For more than three decades Mark Blundell has honed his expertise in the upper echelons of elite global sport, firstly as an athlete, then TV pundit and in more recent years, a successful talent manager. Mark started his sporting career at just 14, and for nearly twenty years he competed at the very top of world motorsport, including Formula One, IndyCar and World Rally.

His wins even include the prestigious Le Mans 24-hour Endurance Race. From 2001 through to 2008, Mark was integral to ITV as part of the 3-time BAFTA award-winning team, providing F1 analysis alongside Jim Rosenthal and Steve Rider. In 2005, he and his close friend, Martin Brundle, founded 2mb Sports Management.

A boutique talent management company, 2mb is committed to identifying and developing young sports talent and to helping established sports stars define and manage their brands. In January 2009, Mark took sole ownership of 2mb Sports Management and is now committed full-time to using his experience, knowledge and connections to provide personalised commercial services and management support.

Mark Blundell’s isportconnect-profile-widget

{jcomments on}