Sebastian Vettel beat surprise pole-sitter Nico Hulkenberg into the first corner of last season's Brazilian Grand Prix and went on to take victory - Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

This weekend Formula 1 heads to Brazil for the nineteenth and final race of the 2011 season – just days before people up and down the country prepare to open the first door of their advent calendars, this long campaign that began back in March will finally reach its conclusion.

And Interlagos is a fine place to end any season. The circuit may have the worst facilities on the calendar, and located in a dangerous neighbourhood (just ask Jenson Button, who had his highly-trained police driver to thank last year after narrowly escaping an armed gang), but on Sunday there will be a carnival atmosphere amongst the fans as they welcome F1 on its annual visit to Sao Paulo.

The championships may have been settled many races ago and there is little chance of a Brazilian winning their home race this weekend, but still this final Grand Prix will still be worth watching as the loose ends of a frantic season are tied together, scores are settled, and teams try to send out a message for their rivals to take away over the winter.

McLaren will be one such team hoping to end the year on a high. They have been looking more competitive in the latter part of the season and will be hoping that either Lewis Hamilton or Button will score a second consecutive win for the team. This will surely give them extra momentum as they head into the winter break, helping them to design a car that can topple Red Bull in 2012.

After tasting victory in Abu Dhabi, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh (left) will want either Lewis Hamilton (centre) or Jenson Button (right) to take the win in Brazil on Sunday - Photo Credit: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel will be desperate to stop that happening though. The puncture suffered by the German in Abu Dhabi last time out deprived him of a chance to match Michael Schumacher‘s record of thirteen wins in a single season but Vettel will still be fighting for the victory, eager to get a result in the final race that can reflect his dominant season. Fernando Alonso will also be one to watch, although the Spaniard has surprisingly never won at this track.

There are other drivers who will be desperate for a result at Interlagos, just to ensure their 2011 cannot be regarded as a complete write-off. Mark Webber will want a victory just to avoid a completely win-less season, especially as his team-mate has managed to stand on the top step of the podium eleven times already.

Felipe Massa would probably just be happy with a podium to avoid the 2011 season going down as the first since 2005 in which he failed to pick up a trophy. In fact, the Brazilian has not actually even managed a fourth place yet in 2011 but, as a two-time winner of his home race, maybe Massa will give his critics something to think about on Sunday.

Schumacher, a four-time winner here, would probably like to overcome the seven point deficit between himself and team-mate Nico Rosberg to assert himself as top dog at Mercedes. The seven-time world champion has claimed a number of good results this season, despite starting from some lowly grid positions. Some of these drives have been reminiscent of his final race at Ferrari in 2006 when, after dropping down to the back of the field at the start of the race, he so skilfully fought his way up to fourth place. It was not enough to give him the title that season, but it was nevertheless a great send off for the German.

At Renault and Toro Rosso, both drivers will have one last chance to convince their team bosses that that they are worthy of a race seat next season. Vitaly Petrov is thought to have a contract with the team, and attracts some Russian sponsorship its way. However, after his outspoken comments towards the team last week, Eric Boullier may be tempted to move him on. Bruno Senna is far from guaranteed a seat next season, with Romain Grosjean waiting in the wings and the chance, albeit one that is becoming increasingly unlikely, that Robert Kubica might return.

At Toro Rosso, Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari have impressed in the second half of the season, and probably deserve another year together in the Red Bull junior team. Alguersuari has definitely become a much improved driver in the second half of this season, and sits thirteenth in the championship with 26 points. However, with a raft of young drivers waiting in the wings, including Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, Helmut Marko might decide to that time is up for one or both of the current drivers. They will be hoping to impress in Brazil.

Nico Hulkenberg took an unexpected pole position in Brazil last year. Sadly Williams have not had much to celebrate since - Photo Credit: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Photographic

Force India should, hopefully, announce their driver line-up for next season sometime this week, with Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg (who was on pole in a Williams at this event last season, but will only be in the car for FP1 this year) still the expected choice. The team will be looking to secure sixth place in the constructors’ table in Brazil, and have a healthy fifteen point cushion to Sauber.

Sauber, who confirmed some time ago that Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez will be retained for 2012, will probably not be too focused on chasing Force India for sixth place on Sunday, but will be concentrating more on defending seventh position, given a fragile lead of one point from Toro Rosso.

This race could also mark the end of the road for Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver in the history of the sport. The Brazilian looks unlikely to be retained by Williams for next season, and it is hard to see where else he could end up. Barrichello is still hopeful of securing a drive over the winter, but a 20th season in the sport for the 39-year-old is looking doubtful.

It will be a shame to see Barrichello bow out of the sport. By all accounts he is a very friendly, happy and enthusiastic driver who will no doubt be missed by many in the paddock. However, many would argue that it is time for him to move on and allow some new blood to take his place. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, he has normally been pretty unlucky at Interlagos, with eleven retirements in his eighteen previous visits, and only one podium finish – third in 2004.

Barrichello secured pole at Interlagos in 2004, and went on to finish third behind Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen - Photo Credit: Ferrari

Brazil could also be the final race for Jerome D’Ambrosio, with Virgin Racing expected to announce Charles Pic alongside Timo Glock for next season, and who knows what will happen to Vitantonio Liuzzi now that Pedro de la Rosa has been confirmed in an HRT race seat for next season. It is likely that the other driver in that team will need to be bringing in plenty of sponsorship money.

• Qualifying for the final race of 2011 begins at 16:00 GMT on Saturday, with the race starting at the same time on Sunday.
• There will be reports and reaction to all the events in Brazil throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk
• Be sure to look out for our mammoth four-part F1 2011 Season Review which will be published in December

The circuit in Abu Dhabi is dominated by the futuristic Yas Hotel - Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Last season, the F1 community approached the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a great anticipation. It was the final race of the season, and four drivers were in contention for the title.

This season, however, it is the penultimate race, the drivers’ championship was wrapped up a month ago, and there is a feeling that the whole paddock is slowly winding down towards the end of the season, dreaming of winters spent on beaches in tropical lands.

But let us go back to last season. Recall that the smart money was on one of two drivers to take the crown: Fernando Alonso or Mark Webber. Sebastian Vettel took pole position (a phrase that has been typed rather a lot this season), but the German still did not look particularly likely to take the championship that Saturday evening, mainly because he was fifteen points behind Alonso, who had qualified in third.

Yet, as we all know, the race was a disaster for both of the championship leaders. After early pit stops, Alonso spent the rest of the race stuck behind Vitaly Petrov, unable to pass the Russian who impressed onlookers with his display of defensive driver. Webber was stuck behind this battle, and the pair eventually finished seventh and eighth. Vettel won the race, and led the standings for the first time all year. The rest, as they say, is history.

Vitaly Petrov kept Alonso behind him lap after lap in Abu Dhabi last season - Photo Credit: Lorenzo Bellanca/LAT Photographic

Looking back on that race in the cold light of day, however, and one could not consider it a classic by any means. True, some of us found it quite amusing to see Alonso stuck behind Petrov lap after lap, especially given the team-order incident that had taken place earlier that season in Germany, but it was a race with hardly any overtaking towards the front of the field and an easy win for Vettel.

‘Race with hardly any overtaking?’, ‘Easy win for Vettel?’ – these phrases would almost perfectly describe the European Grand Prix from earlier this season. Does that mean that this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be a tedious, uncompetitive affair that we should just not bother with, just like the race in Valencia back in June?

If the Yas Marina circuit gave us a re-run of last year’s race, then the answer to the previous question would be a convincing ‘yes’. Without the championship excitement surrounding the event last season, it would probably have been regarded as a disappointing anti-climax to a great year of racing.

This season, the racing in Abu Dhabi should be better. We have Pirelli tyres, KERS and – love it or hate it – DRS, all of which should give us something to talk about by the end of the race.

And if it doesn’t, we can perhaps look forward to Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa knocking one another off the road again, or see how the tough battle for that all-important sixth place in the constructors’ championship pans out between Force India, Sauber and Toro Rosso, or maybe we can just wait to hear how HRT boss Colin Kolles puts a positive spin on qualifying when his cars inevitably end up on the back row of the grid again.

Alternatively, one can admire the scenery. The Yas Marina circuit is undoubtedly one of the most ostentatious demonstrations of wealth anywhere in sport. The futuristic hotel that sits in the centre of the track, covered with pretty lights, takes centre stage on this purpose-built island, and there is the huge Ferrari-World theme park nearby. It all looks pretty spectacular during the day but, as the race is run on Sunday, darkness will begin to fall, and the whole place looks pretty spectacular.

It has been a long season. Fatigue is most definitely setting in. October gave us UK fans two back-to-back early-morning races, and now, even when there is relatively little left to fight for, still the races keep coming. This preview is the 698th article written about Formula 1 on this site since our Australian Grand Prix preview on the 21st March (although not all of them originated from this keyboard, luckily). However, we have come this far, it has been a great season despite the dominance of Sebastian Vettel, and Abu Dhabi could well put on a decent race to match the spectacular settings.

• Qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix begins at 13:00 GMT on Saturday with the race starting at the same time on Sunday.
• Reports and reactions from Abu Dhabi will be available here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk throughout the weekend

Vitaly Petrov: hero of Abu Dhabi 2010. Who's that behind him? - Photo Credit: Charles Coates/LAT Photographic

Neel Jani takes the Red Bull show car out on track at the Buddh International Circuit - Photo Credit: Red Bull

Formula 1 makes its annual trip to a brand new track this weekend for Round 17 of this 2011 season: the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

The Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, located about 50 kilometres south east of New Delhi becomes the fifth new Formula 1 venue in four years and it is one that teams and drivers are approaching with a great deal of anticipation.

Many people are expecting this latest addition to the calendar to be something quite special. It is another Herman Tilke design, with sixteen corners and three long straights. The lap is expect to be fast – second only to Monza – and with a width of up to 20 metres in certain areas, it should provide plenty of opportunities for overtaking and the possibility of some wheel-to-wheel racing.

Another feature of this new purpose-built circuit is some striking undulations. Apparently, more than four million cubic tonnes of soil have been moved to shape this landscape and there is a difference of 14 metres between Turns 1 and 3 alone. Drivers will have to contend with 8% downhill slopes and 10% inclines, figures of which Spa-Francorchamps would be proud.

And, of course, there is the unique challenge that every new track brings: the unknown. Teams have architect plans and basic information from the FIA but, only when they arrive at the circuit later this week will they get a clear idea of how their car will perform. The teams and drivers that can adapt to the new surrounding fastest could have a distinct advantage during the early part of the weekend.

However, as race organisers in Turkey know all too well, a great track does not guarantee that a new grand prix will be successful. Are the Indian people sufficiently interested in Formula 1 to flock to the track this weekend? Will the ticket prices be affordable? Can F1 ever truly be welcomed in a country where the number one sport is cricket?

The crowds will not be flocking to see the climax of an epic championship battle of course. Sebastian Vettel wrapped the drivers’ title up nearly three weeks ago and Red Bull sealed the constructors’ crown last time out in Korea. However, with Fernando Alonso and the McLaren drivers vowing to fight on for the remainder of the season, Vettel determined to continue his dominant form, and Mark Webber desperately battling for a win, there should still be plenty to look forward to in the remaining three races of 2011.

Unfortunately the Indian crowds who turn up on Sunday will not get to see Karun Chandhok racing. The Team Lotus test and reserve driver, who many would consider to be the best that India have produced so far, will only be in the car for FP1. Some consolation for the local fans is that Narain Karthikeyan will be in the HRT for the entire weekend, assuming he doesn’t fall foul of the 107% rule.

As for fans in the UK, there is not only the excitement of seeing the first race at a brand new track, but there is also the prospect of a weekend lie-in to look forward to. India’s location does not quite lend itself to a lunchtime race, but at least die-hard fans will not have to awake at 6am on a Saturday morning for qualifying.

• Qualifying for the Indian Grand Prix begins at 09:30 BST on Saturday whilst the race begins at 09:30 GMT on Sunday. Full coverage is available in the UK on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• There will be full coverage of the weekend’s events here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk

The podium finishers at last season's Korean Grand Prix follow one another on track: (Left to right) Fernando Alonso (winner), Lewis Hamilton (2nd) and Felipe Massa - Photo Credit: Ferrari.com

After all the excitement of the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend, what with Sebastian Vettel becoming the youngest double champion in the history of the sport and only the ninth driver to win consecutive titles, plus the emotional victory for Jenson Button, it seems a bit excessive to have a another grand prix just seven days later.

Nevertheless, Formula 1 will this weekend pay its second visit to the Yeongam circuit in South Korea and, despite drivers, teams, media and fans all potentially being slightly hung-over, punch-drunk or down-right exhausted after events in Suzuka, this race could be a spectacle to behold.

Last season there was months of speculation over whether or not the race in Korea would go ahead as organisers rushed to get the circuit ready in time. The homologation process was carried out at the last minute and, as the F1 circus eventually descended on the circuit, an all-night operation was underway to get the seats installed in the grandstands.

Workers put the 'finishing touches' to the grandstands at Yeongam last season - Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

And then, after Sebastian Vettel had taken pole position on the Saturday, race day arrived with a heavy dose of wet weather. The start of the race was delayed for ten minutes, and then it began under the safety car. After two laps, the race was suspended for nearly an hour because of the sodden track, and then it resumed again under the safety car.

Finally the race got underway, and what a race it was! In fact, it was so good that it got an honourable mention as one of the best races of last season on this very site at the end of the year. It certainly had a huge impact on the title race, with three of the five title contenders failing to pick up any points.

Even though the title race has now been decided, there are plenty of reasons to be interested about the goings-on in Korea this weekend, with plenty of stories still set to unfold before the end of the season.

Although Vettel has done enough to take the title, the ambitious German will not want to stop there. He has nine race victories to his name already this season and, with four races remaining, he could equal the record for the number of wins in a season, which is held by, of course, Michael Schumacher (set in 2004).

Another record in his sights could be the number of pole positions by a driver in a season. Nigel Mansell holds that one with fourteen in the 1992 season. Vettel is already on twelve in 2011. He could also beat Schumacher’s record of seventeen podium finishes in a season – Vettel currently has fourteen.

Regardless of these records, Vettel would probably quite like to win in Korea anyway. Last season he was leading when his Renault engine decided it had had enough. That was Vettel’s last retirement and Red Bull’s last DNF. The double world champion will feel that he has unfinished business at Yeongam this weekend.

Neither Mark Webber's (left) nor Sebastian Vettel's car made it to the end of the inaugural Korean Grand Prix - Photo Credit: (Left:) Paul Gilham/Getty Images; Clive Mason/Getty Images

Mark Webber made a crucial mistake last season’s race which, in hindsight, was the moment that lost him the world champion. The wet conditions caused him to crash into both a wall and Nico Rosberg shortly after the field were released from the control of the safety car. The Australian has not won a race since Hungary 2010 and could really do with a victory before the end of 2011.

Then of course, there is McLaren duo. Jenson Button showed why the team have signed him on a multi-year deal with a great win at Suzuka, whilst Lewis Hamilton continued to look troubled. Will Button continue to out-race his team-mate or can Hamilton bounce back and take victory in Korea. The 2008 world champion came second here last season and, with McLaren showing that they now have the pace to challenge Red Bull, maybe he can reverse his downward spiral in form.

Despite Ferrari seeming to be some way behind the top two teams in the performance stakes, Fernando Alonso cannot be discounted this weekend. He out-drove the car to take second in Suzuka and, of course, won the inaugural Korean Grand Prix last season. The Spaniard seems determined to finish second in the championship standings, so expect some competitive driving over the remaining four races.

And perhaps an outside bet for a podium position, particularly if it rains, could be Michael Schumacher. The German showed how he earned his nickname ‘Regenmeister’ in last season’s race and finished in an excellent fourth place. Singapore apart, the seven-time world champion has shown some excellent form since F1 returned from its summer break, and so perhaps he is due his 155th podium finish this weekend?

Further down the grid, with plenty of drivers unsure of a race seat for next season, there will be plenty of fierce competition. Moreover, there are battles between teams for finishing places in the constructors’ standings, and for the extra prize money that comes with each higher placing.

In summary then, despite the championship being over, there are plenty of reasons to shun the weekend lie-in for the second week running. For anyone thinking that the last couple of races have been a bit dry, there is a reasonable possibility of some precipitation throughout the weekend.

• Qualifying for the Korean Grand Prix beings at 06:00 BST on Saturday whilst the race gets underway at 07:00 BST on Sunday. Coverage for UK audiences is available on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• There will be reports and reactions from Korea throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk

Sebastian Vettel leads the field in to the first corner at last year's Japanese Grand Prix but the yellow Renault of Vitaly Petrov (right) only manages a few metres - Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Imagine a long thin bit of paper stretching from the Earth to the moon. Then imagine starting from one end by writing 99.9 and continuing to write 9s along its length in nice thin lettering. Finally, as you reach the end of the piece of the paper (having travelled successfully through the earth’s atmosphere, and survived the intense solar radiation, the cold, and the lack of oxygen) write a percentage sign.

Congratulations! You have just, by the power of your imagination, written out the (rough) odds of Sebastian Vettel securing the 2011 Formula 1 title in Japan on Sunday.

That is a slight exaggeration of course. However, the German needs to score just one point at Suzuka to have a an unassailable lead in the standings and, even if he does not manage that, Jenson Button must do something he has never managed before – i.e., win in Japan – just to postpone the inevitable celebrations from Vettel and Red Bull.

It is rather unlikely that Vettel will need to rely on Button – he could probably pick up a point at Suzuka if he was driving around with his eyes closed. The 24-year-old has won the last two races at this venue from pole position and the smallest points haul he has taken from a race weekend all this season is the twelve points that he scored by finishing fourth at his home grand prix in July.

Last season, we described Vettel’s drive to victory in Japan as ‘serene’, and the entire weekend was a demonstration of the soon-to-be double world champion at his best. Even when heavy rain forced qualifying to be abandoned on the Saturday and rescheduled for Sunday morning, Vettel seemed completely unfazed and beat team-mate Mark Webber to pole position.

Complete wash-out: The various pit crews made good use of the new stream that ran down the pit lane during qualifying last season - Photo Credit:Clive Mason/Getty Images

Anyway, assuming that some incredibly unlikely chain of events does not prevent Vettel from picking up the title on Sunday, the final races of 2011 will become a battle between Button, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, and Lewis Hamilton over who can take second place in the standings.

For the two McLaren drivers, this battle has an extra dimension. Hamilton has never been beaten by a team-mate in his four previous Formula 1 seasons but, in recent races, Button has been by far the better driver and currently has a seventeen point advantage of his team-mate in the championship table. At the beginning of last season, there were many people discounting Button’s move to Woking as foolish but, to finish above Hamilton in just his second season with McLaren would be an excellent way to answer those critics.

Of course, Webber really needs a second place finish in the championship to but some sort of positive shine on a pretty ropy season. After being comprehensively out-raced by Vettel all season – with the possible exception of Germany – the Australian really needs a race win from one of the remaining grand prix to show that he is still capable of challenging at the top.

Just one win all season is pretty disappointing for Ferrari, but Alonso is currently only a point of second in the title and to finish best of the rest this season would be testament to the Spaniard’s talents, if not to the quality of his car.

If Vettel was to win this weekend, he would become only the second driver to win a third Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. The first, of course, was Michael Schumacher, who has actually won this event six times altogether, and picked up two of his seven world titles here (in 2000 and 2003). Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello are the only other current drivers who have stood on the top step of the podium at Suzuka with one win each. However, in addition to his 2006 win at Suzuka, Alonso also won the Japanese Grand Prix in 2008, but that took place at the Fuji Speedway.

Michael Schumacher took his thirteenth win of a dominant Formula 1 season at Suzuka in 2004 - Photo Credit: Ferrari

Suzuka is probably most famous for being the only figure-of-eight circuit on the calendar. Mention the track to F1 fans, and the high-speed 130R corner probably springs to the mind of most – so called because it has a radius of 130 metres. Other favourites are the ‘S’ curves (or ‘esses’) at the start of the lap and the two Degner curves and the spoon curve.

Apparently, the first seven corners, i.e. the first turn and then the ‘S’ curves, are some of the most crucial in the lap. Get it wrong somewhere, and you pay for it right up until turn 8. Drivers love the challenges of this track and the gravel traps and close walls that surround the circuit ensure that mistakes are punished.

In addition to Vettel’s supreme performance, last season’s race will also be remembered for a particularly great driver from Kamui Kobayashi. After qualifying down in fourteenth the driver impressed his compatriots in the grandstands with a series of sterling (and some rather robust) over-taking manoeuvres. He eventually finished seventh and, for many, he was driver of the day. The Spoon Curve was a particularly favourite sport of Kobayashi that day, so watch out for the Japanese driver on Sunday.

Don’t forget that this race takes place in Asia, and there is not a single lighting projector in sight, let alone the 1500 that lit up the streets up Singapore during the last race. That means, for the first time since China in April, the weekend lie-in must be forsaken for some live F1 action. Suzuka generally gives us an exciting race though, so it should be worth the sacrifice.

• Qualifying begins at 06:00 BST on Saturday and the race will start at 07:00 on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is available on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live
• There will be reports and reaction from events in Suzuka throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk
• If you missed it last weekend, you can relive our comprehensive (and rather exhausting) coverage of the entire Britcar 24 hours from Silverstone through the hour-by-hour updates and the full report that will appear on this site soon.

The Marina Bay Circuit, Singapore - Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

So far this season, Formula 1 has provided us with plenty of exciting races, a few that were merely technically intriguing, and one that was rather dull. The sport has been transformed in 2011, mainly thanks to the arrival of Pirelli, and it has generally been great to watch.

Many fans will (hopefully) agree with the view above, which is all the more remarkable considering that one man has dominated proceedings for virtually the entire season.

Sebastian Vettel, who did not lead the championship until the end of the finally race last season, has been top of the pile for the entirety of 2011. The 24-year-old has won eight of the thirteen races so far this season, finished on the podium in all but one of them, and has only been off the front row in qualifying once. Yet, although fans have been hoping that someone will step up and match the German, this dominance has not detracted too much from the great races that we have all witnessed this season.

Victory in Monza leaves Vettel tantalisingly close to his second F1 title - Photo Credit: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images

Yet this weekend could see Vettel crowned champion and so, rightly, most of the focus will be on him in Singapore. But what sort of result will he need to take the title with five races to spare? Time for some simple mathematics:

To be champion in Singapore, Vettel needs to extend his lead in the driver’s championship to 125 points, the number that will be available from the five remaining races in Japan, Korea, India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil. If Vettel does this in Singapore, then fails to score again this season, and Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Mark Webber were to win all of the remaining races and draw level on points, Vettel would still take the title by virtue of having won more races.

Vettel currently enjoys a lead of 112 points, and therefore needs to extend this margin by just 13 to become champion. Alonso is second, Button and Webber are a further five points behind in third, and Lewis Hamilton is a whopping 126 points behind Vettel in fourth place. Therefore, Vettel needs a swing of 13 points from Alonso, and a swing of eight points from Button and team-mate Webber, and to finish ahead of Hamilton to wrap up the championship.

Put simply then, these are the possible permutations. Vettel will be champion if:

• He wins, Alonso does not finish on the podium, and neither Button nor Webber come second.
• He comes second and Alonso finishes eighth or lower, Button and Webber finish fifth or lower and Hamilton does not win.
• He finishes third, Alonso finishes ninth or lower, Button and Webber finish seventh or lower and Hamilton is not on the podium.

If Vettel finishes fourth or lower, he cannot be crowned champion in Singapore, even if all of his rivals fail to scores points – Alonso would still  be in with a mathematical chance of stealing the crown.

Sebastian Vettel pushed Alonso hard in last season's race, but could not deny the Ferrari man victory - Photo Credit: Ferrari

Clearly, the most likely way that Vettel can take the title this weekend is a victory for the German with Hamilton, or maybe even the likes of Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher or Felipe Massa, coming second. Vettel has been performing brilliantly since the summer break, winning in both Belgium and Italy, and would be the bookies favourite to take both pole and the victory this weekend. Added to this is the fact that he was very competitive in Singapore last season, pushing Alonso for much of the race and eventually finishing second, close behind the Spaniard.

Of course, even if Vettel does win, one of Alonso, Webber or Button could delay his championship celebrations by finishing second. They will only be delaying the inevitable though, and the title race will almost certainly come to an end at the next race in Japan.

Back to Singapore though, and Alonso is undoubtedly the king of this track, winning two out of the three races that have taken place here. The first, won with Renault, was particularly memorable for being soured by the infamous ‘Crashgate’ scandal. For those who are not familiar with the incident, a) where have you been? and b) read this entry on Wikipedia to re-live the whole sordid affair.

Fernando Alonso qualified fifteenth for the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix but went on to win the race. It eventually transpired that he had a bit of extra help from his team... - Photo Credit: Steve Etherington/ LAT Photographic

Hamilton is the only other previous winner at Singapore, with the Brit taking the second victory of a relatively barren season here in 2009. Alonso was third in that race, in an uncompetitive Renault, further underlying the Spaniard’s great previous form here.

Over seven hundred words into this preview, there has not yet been a single mention of the unique feature of the race in Singapore: the grand prix, of course, takes place entirely at night. The 5.073 km street circuit, which snakes around the city’s magnificent Marina Bay area, is lit by 1500 specialist light projectors.

The result is a venue that looks absolutely fantastic. Television makes it look spectacular, but cannot really do it justice. Only when you are actually there can you appreciate the scale of the feat that the race organisers have pulled off, the stunning views, and the unique atmosphere. Football fans will know that attending evening matches under floodlights adds a whole new layer to the experience. For Formula 1, this effect is multiplied considerably. McLaren Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh described Singapore this week as ‘one of the sport’s modern wonders and greatest success stories’, and it is hard not to agree with him.

Being a street-circuit, overtaking has naturally been quite difficult at Singapore in the past, as was ably demonstrated by Hamilton last year when an attempt to pass Webber ended in both cars colliding and his race coming to a premature end.

However, the Pirelli tyres should improve overtaking prospects this weekend, and DRS could help too, although it has failed to do much on other street circuits this season. However, in the past there have been plenty of crashes during the races in Singapore. and a safety car at every previous grand prix (for an average of 6.7 laps, according to the Mercedes stats people). so it is a definitely a circuit that can provide plenty of thrills and spills.

Heikki Kovalainen will agree that racing in Singapore is eventful - in 2010 he turned firefighter at the end of the race - Photo Credit: Lotus Racing

Like it or not, Sebastian Vettel could go on to be one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen, eclipsing even Michael Schumacher in the number of race wins and championships that he achieves. This weekend he could wrap up title number two, so be sure to watch and possibly witness some F1 history in the making.

Even those in the anti-Vettel camp should be hoping he does take the title this weekend – everyone will stop talking about it and we can enjoy some all-out racing for the remainder of 2011.

• Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix will begin at 15:00 BST on Saturday with the race starting at the more traditional time of 13:00 BST on Sunday.
• There will be full coverage of events from Singapore throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk
• For anyone who likes races that begin during the day, go through the night, and finish the following day, follow our comprehensive coverage of the Britcar 24 hour race from Silverstone on 30th September – 2nd October.

That figure also assumes that Mark Webber, who is currently second in the championship, 92 points behind his Red Bull team-mate, wins all of the remaining races – and he has not actually stood on the top step of the podium since Hungary 2010. The number of points that Vettel will actually need for consecutive titles is likely to be much lower, and the number he scores will probably be much higher.

It is now a matter of when Vettel will wrap up the title. He cannot do it at the Italian Grand Prix, which takes place this weekend in Monza but, nevertheless, the German will want a win at the final European race of 2011.

In 2008, this venue was the scene of Vettel’s first ever F1 victory – aged 21 years and 74 days he became the youngest pole-sitter, podium-finisher and race-winner in the history of the sport after driving an un-fancied Toro Rosso beautifully over the course of a very wet weekend.

Vettel gives the now-familiar victory signal after winning his first race in 2008 (Photo Credit: Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Vettel may not have it all his own way this year though. He should have faced stiffer competition at the last race in Belgium but Webber had a poor start, Lewis Hamilton crashed out and Jenson Button, as great as his drive was at Spa, could not mount a challenge to Vettel after the miscommunication with his team in qualifying.

This weekend the McLaren drivers should be fighting at the front once again. The Mercedes engine that powers the MP4-26 is generally recognised as the most powerful on the grid and Monza is a track that will make best use of this potency.

With that in mind, also expect the Mercedes team to go well here – Michael Schumacher has won this race five times (a record at this circuit) and, coming off an excellent drive in Spa-Francorchamps, the seven-time world champion could possibly be challenging for his first podium finish since returning to the sport. Following the same logic, Force India could also be expected to have a decent weekend culminating in a respectable points haul.

Fernando Alonso on his way to victory last season at Monza (Photo Credit: Ferrari)

Of course, in Italy, one can never rule out Ferrari. The raucous Tifosi act as the F1 equivalent of a twelfth man in football and if Fernando Alonso is going to win another race this year, Monza would be the ideal location. The Spaniard stood on the top step of the podium last season in his first Italian Grand Prix driving for the Scuderia, and would he dearly love to repeat the experience on Sunday.

Monza is, like Monaco, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, another one of the classic circuits. Corner names such as Curva Grande, Lesmo and Parabolica are instantly attributable to the Italian circuit, which is also well-known for its long straights. It is also the fastest track on the calendar – an F1 car can average around 250kph in a lap around Monza and at four points around the circuit drivers will exceed 320kph.

To achieve the best possible lap times, and minimise the drag cars experience on the straights, teams will run skinny rear wings on the cars. This presents difficulties for the drivers as they fight for grip in the corners, and also has implications for the DRS.

There has been some discussion in recent days about the effectiveness of DRS around Monza this weekend. Sauber technical director James Key expects that the system will make little difference – the logic behind this statement is that, with the cars experiencing such little drag down the straights anyway, there will not be much to reduce by opening the rear-wing, and hence there will be little effect on the top speed.

There will be two DRS zones at Monza this weekend, something that both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, in contrast to Key, suspect will have a big effect on the race. It remains to be seen what will happen but there is a worry that, if either DRS activation zone is too long, then overtaking will become a bit too easy, just as it was, arguably, in Belgium last time out.

One interesting idea is that, if DRS can be relied on to reduce drag down the straights, the teams may opt to put slightly more wing on the car to improve cornering. This strategy would be most effective in qualifying, where DRS can be used in any part of the track, but could well be counter-productive in the race, when use of the system is limited.

This weekend Formula 1 leaves Europe for another year and the Italian Grand Prix should hopefully provide a fitting send-off. It seems that nobody will stop Sebastian Vettel and his steady march towards a second F1 title but, with stories up and down the grid, and at least five potential winners on Sunday, it will worth be tuning in as the sport waves farewell to this continent and heads to Singapore.

• Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix begins at 13:00 BST on Saturday and the race starts at 13:00 BST on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is available on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• There will be reports and reaction to events on and off the track throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk

The event, of course, takes place at the magnificent Spa-Francorchamps circuit, nestled in the Ardennes forest. The track itself, a favourite of all the drivers, is a majestic 4.352mile behemoth that follows the contours of the hilly landscape and is made up mainly of medium and high-speed corners.

Drivers enjoy the challenge it presents, and the test of their mettle as they hurtle through the likes Eau Rouge, Pouhon and Blanchimont – it is no coincidence that the only drivers ever to win more than one Formula 1 race at Spa are all world champions. Fans enjoy the unpredictable weather, the opportunities for overtaking, and seeing the best drivers in the world pushing an F1 car to its limits.

Juan Manuel Fangio won the first world championship race at Spa in 1950 and, along with Damon Hill, has three Belgian Grand Prix victories to his name. Jim Clark and Kimi Raikkonen have four each, whilst Ayrton Senna can boast five. Of course, the driver with the most wins at this track (six) is Michael Schumacher, as is the case with nearly all but the most modern circuits on the calendar.

And Spa is a very special place for the seven-time world champion. This weekend in Belgium he will celebrate the 20^th anniversary of his first race in Formula 1 (also at Spa). At the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix, one year on from that debut race, Schumacher took his first F1 win. His 52^nd win came at Spa in 2001 and he surpassed Alain Prost’s record of 51 F1 victories. Schumacher also wrapped up his seventh title at the 2004 race after finishing second behind Raikkonen.

Schumacher has not won this race since 2002 and, of course, is unlikely to do so this weekend. However, he finished seventh last season after starting down in P21 and could well have one of his strongest races of the year here on Sunday.

Trademark leap: Michael Schumacher celebrates victory at the 2002 Belgian Grand Prix (Photo Credit: Ferrari)

There is now another German hoping to emulate the successes of Schumacher on the grid, but Sebastian Vettel, and indeed Red Bull, is yet to win a race at this legendary circuit. Last season Vettel somehow managed to crash head-on into the side of Jenson Button’s McLaren whilst following him down a straight, on a dry track. Vettel seems to have eliminated such mistakes from his driving so far this season, and would dearly love a win in Spa on his CV.

Another driver without a win at Spa, surprisingly, is Fernando Alonso, despite the Spaniard having 27 victories to his name. He crashed out in wet conditions at last season’s race but can perhaps take heart from the fact that a Ferrari has won five of the last eight races held at this circuit. Alonso should be well-placed to challenge for the win this weekend, provided the team have worked out how to get temperature into the Pirelli tyres quickly in cool conditions – a problem that prevented them from qualifying well in Hungary last time out.

In fact, other than Michael Schumacher, the only current drivers who have won this race previously are Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton. Many would argue that Massa should not have won that 2008 race anyway – Hamilton crossed the line to win but was later given a controversial 25-second penalty. The Brit was deemed to have taken the lead from Raikkonen unfairly after going off the track. That judgement itself was debatable, but the Finn crashed out soon after this incident anyway. As it was, Massa inherited the win and Hamilton was left waiting until last season to take his maiden victory at the track.

This 2008 champion will again be one of the favourites for the victory in Belgium this weekend. McLaren team have won the last two races and the expected cooler conditions – just like in Germany and Hungary – should suit Hamilton’s MP4-26 more than they do his rivals at Red Bull and Ferrari.

Hamilton (centre) celebrated victory at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix before he was handed a retrospective drive-through penalty that demoted him to third. The win went to Massa (left) and Nick Heidfeld (right) got second place. (Photo Credit: Ferrari)

It would also be foolish to disregard Jenson Button, especially after his excellent win in Hungary. All of Button’s victories with McLaren have come at rain-affected races and there is a good chance that it will not stay dry at Spa this Sunday. Moreover, the layout of the track and its surroundings mean that it can be raining heavily at some corners yet completely dry at others. Button excels in these mixed conditions.

Further down the grid, we may get to see Bruno Senna back on the grid as Renault are apparently trying to get him into Nick Heidfeld’s car for the weekend. At time of writing though, it is unclear whether the switch will go ahead.

In addition to a possible third Brazilian driver on the grid there will be, for the first time in eighteen years, a Belgian driver on the grid in Spa. Jerome D’Ambrosio will hope to do better than compatriot Thierry Boutsen did in the 1993 race though – a gearbox failure in the Jordan meant that Boutsen was unable to complete even one lap.

• Qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix begins at 13:00 BST on Saturday and the race will start at 13:00 on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is available on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• For a reminder of how each driver performed in the opening eleven races of 2011, read our Team-By-Team Mid-Season Review.

The Hungaroring, situated just outside the Hungarian capital Budapest, has hosted a grand prix every year since 1986. It holds a special place in the emotions of Damon Hill, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Heikki Kovalainen as the venue where all four drivers scored their maiden F1 victories (in 1993, 2003, 2006 and 2008 respectively).

The circuit is quite technical, and has a lot of corners, most medium to slow in terms of speed, and not a lot of time for the drivers to recover between each one. This makes it physically difficult for the drivers, who also have to content with high temperatures.

It is also one of those circuits notorious for being difficult to overtake on, and so extra importance is often placed on qualifying and getting pole position. However, in the last five years, only one driver (Lewis Hamilton in 2007) has actually won from the front of the grid. In fact, Button’s win in 2006 came after he started from P14, albeit in a wet race. Interestingly, that 2006 race, the 21st grand prix held at the circuit, was the first wet Hungarian Grand Prix.

Damon Hill takes his first Formula 1 win at the 1993 Hungarian Grand Prix

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see whether the combination of Pirelli tyres, KERS and DRS can encourage more passing moves, as it did in Barcelona and Monaco but, sadly, not in Valencia. Tyres and track temperature in particular are likely to have a significant effect on the running this weekend.

Pirelli are bringing the PZero yellow soft tyres and the red super-soft compound to this track. To quote the DK Eyewitness Travel guide for Budapest: ‘July and early August are generally very hot’. This could have a big effect on tyre wear, particularly for the super-soft option tyre, which will be the faster of the two provided. Therefore, different strategies could well come into play for qualifying and the race as the teams try to find the optimal combination of speed and degradation.

Regardless of whether or not there are vast amounts of overtaking and pit stops, this race should still prove pretty intriguing. In fact, it is arguably a race that could be pivotal in deciding the destination of the 2011 drivers’ crown.

Yesterday in Germany was the first time that Sebastian Vettel had finished outside the top two all season, the first time this year that he had failed to win in two consecutive grand prix, and the first time that both Ferrari and McLaren had better race pace than the Red Bull. Is this a blip, or will Vettel’s title rivals continue to chip away at his huge points advantage?

Ferrari has clearly made a huge step forward. In the last three races (Valencia, Britain and Germany), Fernando Alonso has finished within the top two and collected more points than any other driver. As Stefano Domenicali was keen to point out yesterday, the team have been strong on three different types of circuit, in a range of weather conditions, and under three different sets of engine-mapping regulations.

However, to have any chance of overhauling the 86 point advantage Vettel holds over him, Alonso will need a strong McLaren to take points of the German. Likewise, McLaren need a strong Ferrari for the same reason. Hamilton is currently sitting third in the championship standings, albeit 82 points behind Vettel but his performance at the Nürburgring yesterday suggests that he cannot be counted out of this title race quite yet.

Of course, if Vettel takes pole position and an easy win this weekend then Red Bull can rest easy, as can all his German supporters. He will have put the difficult home race behind him, reasserted his dominance, and effectively have one hand on that championship trophy already.

However, what if Vettel fails to recover in Hungary – a venue at which Red Bull went exceptionally well last year – and McLaren and Ferrari continue their resurgence?  The odds of Vettel picking up a second consecutive title may start to lengthen.

Of course, Mark Webber will also be looking for a win this weekend, especially after missing out in Germany yesterday. He won in Hungary last year after starting second on the grid alongside team-mate Vettel, who was on pole.

Mark Webber celebrates victory in the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix - the Australian has not won another race since

Jenson Button, who can rule himself out of the championship hunt after two successive retirements, will celebrate his 200th grand prix start this weekend, whilst Nico Rosberg celebrates his a century of races. Lewis Hamilton will be aiming to take a hat-trick of victories at the Hungaroring whilst Michael Schumacher, the driver with the most wins around this track, will be (very optimistically) hoping for his fifth winners’ trophy.

After the chequered flag falls in Hungary on Sunday, it will be four long weeks before the Belgian Grand Prix, the next time Formula 1 cars will take to the track again. Enjoy the racing this weekend.

• Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix begins at 13:00 BST on Saturday, and the race will start at 13:00 BST on Sunday. Full coverage in the UK is on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.

Arguably though, one driver is having a much worse season. Mark Webber may have been the only driver to knock Vettel off pole position, but he has not taken a single win. Unlike his fellow strugglers, he cannot even blame a lacklustre car – it is the same model that has taken Vettel to six wins and a championship lead of 80 points. If being hopelessly out-shone by his team-mate is not bad enough, intra-team relations are a little strained for Webber after he chose to ignore radio instructions in the closing stages of the British Grand Prix.

The season is not a complete disaster though. He is second in the driver standings and, if anybody is going to overhaul Vettel’s giant lead, Webber is the best placed man to do it.

And where better to start the fight back than at the track where Webber scored his first Formula 1 victory: the Nürburgring ring, venue of this weekend’s German Grand Prix. Back in 2009, the last time F1 visited this venue (the German Grand Prix alternates between here and Hockenheim), Webber took (his first) pole position and headed a Red Bull one-two.

Mark Webber celebrates his first Formula 1 win at the 2009 German Grand Prix

There is a decent chance of another perfect result for Red Bull this weekend. The blown-diffuser row, which engulfed the British Grand Prix, has been resolved, and teams will be able to revert back to their Valencia configuration. Ferrari, thought to be a beneficiary of the ban at Silverstone, may struggle to be quite as competitive this weekend when Red Bull can run the optimum engine map. However, with McLaren struggling at this mid-point of the season, Ferrari will again probably be the most likely of anyone to challenge Red Bull for the victory.

The Nürburgring track, situated in the Eifel Mountains, has a mixture of low speed and high speed sections, with mostly low to medium speed corners, and a couple of fast straights. It is a track with plenty of changes in elevation: the highest point is a full 62 metres higher than the lowest point. It is difficult to characterise, and so it is hard to say if one car is inherently better suited to the track than others. A good set-up, as always, is very important.

Of course, the current Formula 1 track is not to be confused with the legendary Nordschleife – the 20.8 kilometre pet-hate of Top Gear’s James May – a track with 154 corners and an elevation difference of 300 metres. It is deemed far too unsafe for full-speed F1 racing these days but, of course, does host the 24 Hours of Nürburgring each year.

The race this weekend will be attended by a large number of German fans, turning out to support one, some, or all of the six German drivers on the grid. Many will be there to cheer on world champion Sebastian Vettel, and Michael Schumacher is still a big favourite amongst his home fans. In fact, Schumacher will be in the slightly bizarre situation of driving through corners names after him. The ‘Schumacher S’ – Turns 8 and 9 – was formally named in 2007, a year after the seven-time world champion retired for the first time.

“It will be the first time that I race through the corner which is named after me, and obviously I would like to believe that this is not only making me proud, but also even faster,” said Schumacher, speaking a few days ago.

Lap 30 of Sunday’s race will mark the halfway point a strange season where the same person wins but still (most of) the races are action-packed and exciting. Viewers will see if Ferrari’s success at Silverstone was just a result of the blown-diffuser regulations or a genuine step forward, if McLaren can get their season back on track, and if Mercedes can draw on the enthusiasm of the German crowd to finally make a significant breakthrough.

Most importantly though, can Mark Webber, at the venue of his first F1 victory, begin the most incredible fight back in the history of the sport, and convince us that someone other than Vettel still has a chance to take the title in 2011?

• Qualifying for the German Grand Prix begins on Saturday at 13:00 BST and the race begins at the same time on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is available on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live
• There will be reports and reaction to events at the Nürburgring throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk

This weekend, after trips to Australia, Asia, Europe and Canada, the Formula 1 circus finally arrives in Britain and, with eight out of twelve current F1 teams choosing to base themselves in the UK; this country is the closest thing that this global sport has to a home.

What’s more, F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone has his offices in London, and even the likes of Ferrari and Sauber, based in Italy and Switzerland respectively, employ English technical directors in Pat Fry and James Key.

The original version of the ‘Three Lions’ song was released for the European Championships of 1996, which were hosted by England. A whole nation was hoping to banish ’30 years of hurt’ and, in their hearts, felt that the English football team could win on home turf. However, in the back of everybody’s minds was the deep suspicion that the Germans could spoil our party, and deprive us of the trophy.

The same could happen this weekend. Over a hundred thousand spectators are expected to fill the grandstands and the grassy banks around Silverstone, most hoping that Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, or even Paul di Resta can take victory at their home race. If they are to be realistic though, the fans will be expecting to see a German standing on the top step of the podium come Sunday afternoon, waving his index finger in the air.

In Euro’96 the England team was beaten by the Germans in the semi-finals, in a penalty shoot-out. If Sunday’s race goes to form, Sebastian Vettel’s victory will be a lot more convincing.

In the last three races, Formula 1 has visited three street circuits. They all have slightly different characteristics, but all three featured a good number of slow corners. Red Bull suspected that these circuits would be their weakest of the season, as the RB7 inherently prefers circuits with sweeping medium and high-speed turns.

Of course, Vettel still won two of these races, and would have won all three if it was not for his mistake on the last lap of the Canadian Grand Prix. As it was, he took 68 of the 75 points available to him, and heads to Silverstone, a track that could have been built to suit his car, with a championship lead of 77 points.

But even with the huge car advantage that he is likely to have, the 2009 winner of this race may not have everything his way. Team-mate Mark Webber, who has the same impressive car at his disposal, won the race last year, and could be a thorn in the side of the reigning world champion.

Mark Webber takes the chequered flag to win the 2010 British Grand Prix

Which team will be closest to Red Bull this weekend? Ferrari held that accolade in Valencia last time out, but it was McLaren in Canada. Neither team has been able to put together a consistent challenge all season, but McLaren will no doubt pull out all the stops for their home race, and their drivers should be spurred on by the massive home support. Hamilton won the race in 2008, but Button is yet to win at home in F1.

Michael Schumacher is a three time winner at Silverstone, but has never won it in anything other than a Ferrari. Of course, the Northamptonshire circuit is also the venue where he broke his leg in 1999, and so Silverstone probably holds a lot of mixed emotions for the seven-time world champion. Mercedes are bringing more updates to this race as they look to continue their push towards the front.

Paul di Resta, who collected some very good results at the beginning of the season, finished behind his team-mate in Monaco and Europe, and has had a couple of visits to the stewards for some failed overtaking manoeuvres lately. He will be hoping to get back in the points this weekend, something that Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil has been managing recently.

Australia gains another representative in the F1 field this weekend as Red Bull rising star Daniel Ricciardo replaces Narain Karthikeyan at Hispania Racing. Up until now, Ricciardo had been test and reserve driver at Toro Rosso and taking part in the first Friday practice session at each race. This weekend he will be hoping to stay on the pace of new team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi as he looks to impress the likes of Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko.

Finally, a word about Silverstone itself: The new pit and paddock complex will be used for its first F1 race this weekend and so the teams, media and corporate types will all be able to enjoy the comfort and luxury of this brand new building, rather than old facilities that were hopelessly dilapidated – at least according to Ecclestone.

The new Silverstone pit and paddock complex sees its first Formula 1 grand prix this weekend

For fans and drivers though, the use of the new wing means that the racing will be different too. The start/finish straight has been moved, and now Abbey becomes the first corner.

After Abbey follows the new ‘Arena’ section, last year loved by some drivers, disliked by others. Sector 2 then begins just before Brooklands, which is now Turn 6, and then out of Woodcote onto what was the start/finish straight last year. Copse, which was a great place for spectators to sit, is now Turn 9 rather than Turn 1. Then, after another short straight, drivers head into Maggots, Beckets and Chapel. These corners, along with Copse, have been described by Vettel as ‘four of the best corners in Formula 1’.

Sector 2 ends on the exit of Chapel and it is then down the Hangar Straight and through the speed trap. Stowe comes next before Vale and Club take the drivers round to the end of the lap.

With the new facilities in place, combined with the excellent track that oozes with history and traditional, Britain finally has a circuit that can hold its own against all the new circuits that are springing up around Asia and the Middle East. In the driving stakes, Britain remains one of the top contributors to F1 talent, with two world champions and one promising young driver currently on the grid. In terms of F1 engineering, this country is comfortably ahead of everybody else. That is something of which Britain should be immensely proud.

And you never know, Vettel may not win every single race from now until the end of the season. He showed in Canada that he is only human, and this weekend may leave the door open for either Hamilton or Button to claim a fantastic win in front of the British fans…

One can dream anyway. After three: ‘F1’s coming home/It’s Coming Home/It’s Coming Home/It’s Coming…” (repeat and fade)

Usually, pinpointing all the areas for potential excitement is fairly easy. Each track has its own little quirks, a few drivers who are particularly good there, or plenty of reasons why it is going to be a Sunday afternoon full of non-stop action.

But every now and then, Formula 1 reaches a track which is, to be frank, pretty dull, and where little of interest happens. The grand prix around the harbour at Valencia an obvious example of such a track, and that is the venue for Round 8 of the 2011 season this weekend.

Naturally, the prospect of a dull race means that writing a positive and enthusiastic preview is quite difficult, but here is the best attempt:

The Spanish city of Valencia is home to the European Grand Prix, so called to avoid confusion with the Spanish Grand Prix, which has already taken place this season at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

The Valencia track can be as described as a street circuit around a harbour. Immediately, though, one would assume it would have many similarities with Monaco. That association would be a mistake, because actually, Valencia is quite different from the race around the streets of Monte Carlo.

And that difference is not just the absence of glamour, history and a tunnel. The track at Valencia is very wide for a street circuit, and is much quicker. The surface is smooth and grippy, and the car needs to be set-up for both straight-line speed and grip in the corners.

There are lots of corners – with 25 officially numbered turns it has the highest number of any current F1 circuit. The trouble is they all look the same. Every corner is surrounded by identical walls with brightly coloured sponsor logos on the side, contrasting violently with brightly coloured kerbs. The liberal use of bright primary colours makes it look as though the whole track is made of child building blocks and would not look out of place at Legoland. It is far cry from the grand and varied buildings that surround the circuit in Monaco.

Sunday will see the fourth race around this track. The first was a completely forgettable event won by Felipe Massa – so forgettable that it was omitted from this preview at first. The second was also a pretty uneventful affair, although it did see Rubens Barrichello claim his first win for Brawn GP.

Last season’s race was a fairly straightforward pole-to-flag win for Sebastian Vettel, although it was punctuated by one of the most spectacular incidents of 2010.

That was, of course, Mark Webber’s aerobatic display. He ran over Heikki Kovalainen’s back wheel whilst trying to overtake the Lotus driver. This propelled Webber into the air, taking out some of the over-head advertising signage in the process. He landed the right way up and, still travelling at well over 100mph, slid across the track and run-off area and came to an abrupt stop in a tyre wall. Both drivers were unhurt in the incident, which saw Kovalainen have his rear-wing taken away by the Red Bull driver – thus providing an instant contradiction to the famous marketing slogan of the energy drinks company.

Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel were dominant in Valencia last year, and there is no reason why they should not be again this year. The track characteristics suit their car, and they may well pull ahead of McLaren again after being pegged-back slightly in Canada. Expect win No. 6 of the season for Vettel, who will be anxious to put his win-losing mistake in Montreal behind him.

Will tyres make a difference? The Pirelli tyres were durable around Monaco, as proven by Vettel’s long run on one set. Drivers will have the Medium and Soft tyres from the PZero range this weekend – one step up in durability from the Soft and Super Softs used in Monte Carlo – and two-stop strategies will probably be the order of the day.

There will also be two DRS activation zones and one detection zone in Valencia, as there was in Canada. DRS proved pretty ineffective in Monaco, but the two zones were slightly too generous to the pursuing driver in Montreal, costing Michael Schumacher a podium finish. The jury is still out on DRS, and it remains to be seen whether it will make a difference to the racing this weekend.

Obviously, the main reason for Formula 1 and Bernie Ecclestone choosing to hold a second grand prix in the country is the huge interest from Spanish fans, attracted to the sport by the success of Fernando Alonso. The grandstands should be filled to capacity with Spaniards eager to see their idol taste victory, although those that make the trip this weekend are likely to be disappointed – Ferrari do not yet look in race winning form, and their hopes either championship look set to be extinguished even before the halfway point of the season.

So whilst the European Grand Prix is unlikely to be a classic, and will definitely not better the epic race in Canada last time out, it might be worth a watch. The new features of F1 in 2011 could spice up the racing slightly this weekend, but it would daft to put money on anything other than a Vettel victory.

• Qualifying for the European Grand Prix begins at 13:00 BST on Saturday and the race follows at 13:00 BST on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is available on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• There will be reports and reaction throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk

The temporary circuit in this Canadian city was the scene of Hamilton’s first ever Formula 1 win at what was only the sixth race of his career. In the Briton’s four full seasons in the sport, F1 has visited Canada three times: Hamilton has been on pole on all three occasions, and taken victory twice.

And this year, the Canadian Grand Prix comes at a crucial moment for Hamilton. Last time out in Monaco, he felt picked on by the stewards, said as much in a television interview, and even – albeit jokingly – played the race card, for which he subsequently apologised. The newspapers that Monday were critical of Hamilton and many observers were quick to condemn both his driving during the race and the comments.

But now Hamilton has the chance to put things right on the track. McLaren seem to be making big steps forward as the season progresses, and have now reached the point where they can match, or even beat, the dominant Red Bull RB7 on race pace. At arguably his best track, Hamilton can silence his critics with yet another sublime performance.

It is also worth pointing out that Red Bull was dominant in qualifying last year as well, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber taking every pole position up to Canada – exactly as they have done this season. It was Hamilton who interrupted this streak last season; can he do the same in 2011?

All eyes will be on Hamilton this weekend in Canada, mainly because of the comments in Monaco, but also with the expectation that he will be the one to take the fight to Vettel in Montreal, and turn this title battle into a two horse race.

There will also be those watching with interest to see how the Pirelli tyres perform. Most races this season (Monaco and Australia the exceptions) have seen three or four stops from most runners, thanks to the high degradation of the PZero rubber. All of this is at circuits where last year’s Bridgestone tyres easily allowed each runner to just do the one mandatory pit stop. What will happen when we arrive at a circuit where the ultra-conservative Bridgestone tyre struggled?

Last season, there was a mixture of two- and three-stop strategies in Montreal, as even the harder Bridgestone compound showed greater-than-expected degradation. It was unlike any other race of the year in this respect, and so it is going to be interesting to see how the Pirelli tyres will fare here.  The Italian tyre company is bringing the super-soft and soft tyres to Canada – the same compounds used in Monte Carlo.

Any why is Canada notoriously tough on both brakes and tyres? It is the the long straights which lead into tight chicanes. The circuit is regarded by the teams as a ‘low downforce’ track, and so the drivers reach good top speeds on the straight but then have to apply greater pressure to the brakes when they reach a corner. The car then struggles for grip through the corners owing to the lower downforce and, with less grip, it moves around more under braking, increasing the tyre wear.

The track is made of public roads, making it very dirty, and also has abrasive tarmac on the surface, which again shortens the life of the tyres. Grip does increase as the race weekend progresses, provided that there is no overnight rain to wash the F1 rubber away – as there was last year.

Being a street circuit, there are also no vast run-off areas, and the walls that surround the edge of the circuit means that accidents often result in a safety car period, which provides even more unpredictability.

For what it’s worth, the Canadian Grand Prix is one of my favourite races of the season. You are always guaranteed a good race, the grandstands are filled with an enthusiastic crowd, and it is prime-time viewing for UK television audiences.

Will Lewis Hamilton take victory number three at this fantastic circuit on Sunday? This will give him more wins in Canada than the likes of Ayrton Senna, Alan Jones and Jackie Stewart, and put him level with Nelson Piquet. In fact, only one driver would have more wins around Canada than Hamilton: a certain Mr. M. Schumacher, who can lay claim to seven.

• Qualifying begins on Saturday at 18:00 BST and the race starts at 18:00 BST on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is on BBC One television and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• There will be reports and reaction from the practice sessions, qualifying and the race throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk
• The Checkered Flag will also be featuring extensive coverage of the Le Mans 24 Hour Race this weekend

A huge army of trucks will ensure that everything is in place for the two Free Practice sessions around the streets of Monte Carlo this Thursday.

The Monaco Grand Prix is one of the most eagerly anticipated tracks on the F1 calendar, despite it being the slowest race of the season, and on a narrow track that heavily limits the amount of overtaking possible.

However, the glamorous setting – a track surrounded by five-star hotels, casinos, and a harbour full of luxury yachts and boats, the chance to see drivers thread their car between unforgiving barriers at stupidly high speeds, a venue steeped in tradition, and the presence of numerous celebrities, all mean that this race is a spectacle to behold.

In fact, Monaco is such a valuable location to Formula 1 that Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Management apparently collects no fee for the race – a heavy contrast to places like China and Abu Dhabi, who reportedly pay Bernie and Co. tens of million pounds for the privilege of hosting a grand prix.

It is certainly the case that Monaco is completely unique amongst the circuits that F1 visits. The teams develop aero parts specifically to generate the huge amounts of downforce needed to find grip around the tight bends of Monte Carlo.

What remains to be seen is whether or not the new regulations will end the usual procession into which most dry races in Monaco descend. The Pirelli tyres certainly livened up what is usually a pretty dull race in Barcelona yesterday, but the DRS did not do much for the overtaking.

After much discussion between drivers and the FIA, there will be a DRS zone in Monte Carlo this weekend. Some drivers were concerned that opening the rear-wing would be unsafe, and Autosport are tonight reporting that the FIA have banned its use in the tunnel to allay their fears. The activation zone will be along the start/finish ‘straight’ (inverted commas necessary as it is not actually particularly straight). Whether the device actually increases the amount of overtaking or not remains to be seen.

Tyres will, without question, be a factor in Sunday’s race. Pirelli are again bringing their soft ‘yellow’ tyre to this race but, unlike in the previous five races, it will be the prime tyre in Monaco, rather than the option. That title falls to the super soft red tyre, which will get its first outing this weekend and, while it will provide excellent grip levels, it is unlikely to last much more than ten laps.

This will lead to another race with a wide variety of strategies, a huge number of pit stops, and plenty of changes in positions. It will certainly be more exciting than a ‘usual’ Monaco race, but will be unlikely to satisfy the self-styled F1 ‘purists’ who believe that Pirelli are ruining modern-day grand prix racing.

Red Bull’s rivals are keen to point out that, in Monaco, the form book could go out of the window, thanks to the unique set-up required and the extreme aerodynamic challenges of the circuit. This may just be wishful thinking though, especially considering the team from Milton Keynes won in both Spain and Monte Carlo last season without too much trouble, and are already halfway to repeated the same feat this season.

Regardless of the ‘Monaco-factor’, McLaren showed in Spain that they have a car that is, if not faster than the Red Bull, certainly a match for the RB7 on race pace. Unfortunately for Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, they still need to find some more time in qualifying, a session that is even more important in Monaco than it was in Barcelona.

Ferrari also promises improvements this weekend, and so does Mercedes. The Monaco Grand Prix could throw up a surprise winner, as it has been known to do on occasion, like when Jarno Trulli was victorious in 2004 and when Olivier Panis took a surprise win in 1996 – a race which saw just three drivers finish. Who knows, Michael Schumacher might even take his sixth victory on the streets of Monte Carlo this weekend.

Interestingly, Sebastian Vettel has never won in Monaco – he was second behind Mark Webber last year and crashed-out in 2009, and he never seems particularly at home there. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, has won this race in every series in which he has competed that uses the track as one of its rounds. Fernando Alonso is a double winner in the principality and, if Ferrari get their act together, may well be a contender on Sunday.

• Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix begins at 13:00 BST on Saturday, with the race beginning at the same time on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is available on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• There will be reports and reaction to event in Monaco throughout the weekend on TheCheckeredFlag

Take Force India for example. This year, as a team, they have already completed the equivalent of ten race distances at the Barcelona track over the course of two pre-season practice sessions. Most of the other teams can boast similar figures.

Because of this, the teams will have a good idea about their optimum set-ups even before they arrive at the track this weekend, and can spend most of Friday testing new upgrades, which they hope will push them closer to the front of the grid.

But this weekend should be different to previous years. Modern F1 (i.e. the sport in 2011) does not do boring races – at least not so far – and thanks to the Pirelli tyres there should be multiple pit stops and overtaking moves in Sunday’s race.

In fact, the Circuit de Catalunya was shown in winter testing to be pretty tough on the new PZero tyres, and temperatures this weekend will be significantly higher than they were in February and March. Also, if the DRS (Drag Reduction System) does its job, it could also help increase the normally modest number of passes on race day.

Barcelona is a track that demands good aerodynamics, hence its status as one of the top testing circuits. Most teams will be bringing their first big batch of aero upgrades to Spain this weekend, and some teams could find a lot more pace.

If F1 needs one thing this season, it is for one of the front-running teams, or at least just one of their drivers, to make a step forward. Sebastian Vettel already has a 34 point lead in the Driver’s Championship, having taken 93 of the 100 available points this season. Formula 1 can provide races with a century of overtaking manoeuvres and almost as many pit stops this season but, if it cannot provide a contest, then it ceases to become an engaging sport.

Will a challenger emerge in Spain? Last year’s Spanish Grand Prix marked the beginning of Mark Webber’s title challenge. The Aussie won in Barcelona last year and then took the victory in Monaco a week later. He has shown little evidence of his ability to take on his team-mate so far this year, but will things change as F1 properly begins its European season?

After emerging as a challenger in China, Lewis Hamilton and McLaren were not able to sustain the pressure on Vettel in Turkey. However, it was a mistake from Hamilton that lost him positions in the early stages of the race in Istanbul – and pit stop issues – that ruined his race. He is probably the most likely to prevent Vettel from claiming win number four of the season.

Or it could be Fernando Alonso, buoyed by the vocal home crowd, who takes the fight to Vettel in Spain? Despite an inability to qualify anywhere other than fifth place this season, the Spaniard and his Ferrari team did show signs of improvement in Turkey, with Alonso taking the team’s first podium of 2011.

Mercedes are also getting closer to the front of the grid, slowly but surely. Nico Rosberg was the fastest non-Red Bull driver in qualifying in Turkey, and finished in a decent fifth place. Michael Schumacher is also thinks that the team are getting better, and was determined to emphasise his dedication to the cause earlier this week. Mercedes do not seem up to challenging Red Bull for race wins yet, but could be on for a good result in Spain as they bring a new aerodynamic package to the car.

Further down the grid, the development race is also in full flow, and the fight between Sauber, Williams, Force India, Renault and Toro Rosso will be just as hard fought. Also hoping to join the fray is Team Lotus. They have said that the upgrade being introduced in Spain should be the one that puts them within touching distance of these midfield runners.

In summary then, Spain does not normally provide that great a race but, with the new Pirelli tyres, KERS and DRS, it should be worth watching this season. Somebody needs to emerge as a consistent challenger to Vettel as the European season kicks-off; otherwise a second consecutive title for the German is in danger of becoming inevitable. Furthermore, the development race truly gets underway this weekend, and the order established over the opening few races could again be re-shuffled.

• Qualifying in Barcelona begins at 13:00 BST on Saturday with the race starting at 13:00 on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• Full updates, reports, and reaction will be found throughout the weekend on TheCheckeredFlag.co.uk

And this, the seventh running of the race in Istanbul, could well be the last. The Turkish government say that they are unwilling to pay Bernie Ecclestone and company the ever-increasing fees to hold an event that has failed to capture the imagination of the locals – a charge evident from the empty grandstands seen on the television pictures every year.

For F1 fans, this would be a shame. The circuit at Istanbul is generally regarded as the best of the recent efforts by architect Herman Tilke – who is also responsible for the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, China’s track, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Korea. David Coulthard has described it as a ‘modern day classic’ and it is a favourite amongst many of the current drivers.

Felipe Massa, in particular, will be sorry to see this track side-lined. He recorded a hat-trick of victories in 2006-2008, comprehensively outracing team-mates Michael Schumacher (2006) and Kimi Raikkonen (’07 and ’08) in the process.

Of course, Turn Eight, the long, quadruple-apex high-speed corner, is inherently associated with this track. In fact, it is obligatory for any discussion about the track to be dominated by this corner. It has quickly become one of the most notorious corners on the F1 calendar and, if one was to compile their ideal track, selecting famous corners from circuits around the world, Turn 8 from Turkey would be sure to feature somewhere.

So what is so great about this corner? What puts it in the same league as Eau Rouge (Spa), 130R (Suzuka) and others?

According to Mercedes, Turn Eight in Turkey is 640m long – 12% of the lap distance – and lasts for 8.5 seconds. The average speed through it is 270kph (nearly 170mph). That makes it comparable in terms of speed with the famous 130R and Copse (at Silverstone). In terms of distance, the season’s next longest corner is Parabolica at Monza, which is a mere 470m.

The combination of high-speed and sustained load makes it particularly challenging, as does the number of apexes. The line drivers choose generally splits the turn into three apexes, and if the driver gets it wrong on entry their lap time is compromised.

With Turn Eight being the most demanding corner on the calendar in terms of tyre wear – particularly for the right-front – teams will need to take particular care of the Pirelli rubber this weekend, and multiple pit stops for each driver are very likely.

It is not just Turn 8 that makes the Istanbul circuit a good one. Turns 1 to 11 are mostly medium- and high-speed corners but the lap finishes with three slower corners, providing good overtaking opportunities.

Turkey also provided one of the most important races in last seasons’ narrative. For those with short memories, it was the race when the battle of the team-mates reached a climax for both Red Bull and McLaren. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber gave an important demonstration of how team-mates should not race one another by colliding on track. As Vettel tried to squeeze past Webber for the lead of the race the pair touched, Vettel crashed-out, and Webber recovered to finish third. There followed a few days in which blame flew between various sections of Red Bull before both drivers were summoned to Milton Keynes for clear-the-air talks and a photo opportunity, followed by a press release from Team Principal Christian Horner, explaining how the accident happened, and to reassure everybody that the team were not favouring any one driver.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button did their on-track squabbling better, but not before giving the McLaren pit wall a quick scare. Running one and two after the Red Bull contretemps, Hamilton was told to hold position in the lead, and begin to conserve fuel. Button did not get the same message and, noticing that his team-mate was slowing, decided to make a move on him. Hamilton was not too happy with this, and promptly took the position back on the opening corner of the next lap. Button defended reasonably fiercely, and the two touched briefly. However, disaster was averted, and the two held position until the end.

Incidentally, that was the last F1 race which had an on-track overtaking manoeuvre for the lead – that is, until China last month, where varying tyre strategies led to a brilliant race and, ultimately, Hamilton passing Vettel to end the world champion’s early-season dominance.

In Turkey, most teams will be bringing their first rounds of major updates, although others may be waiting until Barcelona – another fortnight away – before they make significant changes to the cars. All will be sporting some new parts though, which may upset the tentative order that has been established in the first three races of the season.

Ferrari, who expected to be the major challenger to Red Bull this season, have had a disastrous start by their standards, and President Luca di Montezemolo has demanded improvement. Pleasingly, Massa seems to have regained some of the confidence that seemed to desert him after the team orders fiasco last season, outracing team-mate Fernando Alonso in both Malaysia and China.

McLaren are optimistic that they can build on their successes in China, and Mercedes, who definitely showed some signs of improvement in Shanghai, also think that they will be closer to the front as the European races get underway. Red Bull still picked up second and third place in China, and clearly remain the team to beat, even if Lewis Hamilton proved that the RB7 in the hands of Vettel is not completed unbeatable. Of course, there is also Renault: they have had two podiums this season and also collected a couple of points in China. They must be regarded as a dark horse on any race weekend.

Further down the grid, the power struggle in the mid-field is continuing. Williams, the team with a successful history in the sport, are floundering. They are yet to score a point this season, and Pastor Maldonado was beaten by the Team Lotus car of Heikki Kovalainen in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Sauber, Force India and, to a lesser extent, Toro Rosso, are all fighting for the points not taken by the top five teams. The development race in this part of the field is just as closely fought, and Williams, who still claim that they have a fundamentally good car, will need effective updates if they are to challenge this trio of rival teams.

Meanwhile, Team Lotus is evidently the best of the rest again, and will be hoping to catch Williams and others as the season progresses. Virgin Racing are looking solid but unspectacular and, whilst Hispania have brushed off the clown-team tag that they were in danger of receiving after their poor efforts in Australia, it is hard to see Narain Karthikeyan and Tonio Liuzzi finishing anything other than last in Turkey. On the plus side, they should beat the 107% rule.

If this is the last Turkish Grand Prix, then it is one to be savoured. The race could be as manic as the Chinese Grand Prix, and it will be just as unpredictable with the pack once again shuffled by the off-track development race.

• Qualifying in Turkey begins at 12:00 BST this Saturday, with the race beginning 13:00 BST on Sunday. Coverage in the UK is available on BBC One and BBC Radio 5 Live.
• Reports and reaction can be found throughout the weekend on TheCheckeredFlag

And that cynic would probably be right with their prediction. Watching from the stands in Malaysia last weekend, without the technical trickery of the television graphics and constant glances at the timing screens, victory for Sebastian Vettel seemed far too straightforward. Once he had beaten Nick Heidfeld into the first corner, securing his second win of the season was a formality.

Then, to later find out that the German was without KERS for much of the race, it is hard for anyone to argue against the prospect of a Schumacher-esque season-long dominance for Vettel, and an unchallenged march to his second world title.

Indeed, after just two races, Vettel already has a 24-point lead over Jenson Button in the world championship – he is almost a race win clear already. The Red Bull is, for the third season in a row, the best car on the grid, and Vettel has got off to a much better start this year than he did in 2009 or 2010, making the most of his performance advantage.

So, will it be more of the same in China? BBC Sport’s Andrew Benson reasons that it may not. He notes that McLaren and Ferrari were a lot closer to Red Bull in Malaysia (Lewis Hamilton was just one tenth off Vettel in qualifying) and will be narrowing that gap as the season progresses.

Furthermore, Vettel had the advantage of Heidfeld in second place during the early stages of the race, preventing Hamilton or anyone else mounting a challenging to his lead – not something he can rely on in every race. And KERS reliability is clearly an issue for Red Bull, which could become a crucial factor at particular tracks.

In fact, China could be one such track. It has the longest straight of any track on the F1 calendar, requiring 17 seconds of continuous full throttle, and 62% of the lap is run at full throttle. A dodgy KERS and a Renault engine that apparently lacks grunt when compared to the Mercedes model in the McLaren, all coupled together with the new-for-2011 DRS, means that Vettel, even if he comes out on top in qualifying, may not have everything his own way on race day.

The results from previous Chinese Grand Prix are also against Vettel in that nobody is yet to win this race more than once. If this record is to be upheld on Sunday, then Vettel’s 2009 victory prevents him from standing on the top step of the podium. However, by the same logic, that means that Rubens Barrichello (who won the inaugural race in 2004), Fernando Alonso (2005), Michael Schumacher (2006), Lewis Hamilton (2008) or Jenson Button (2010) will not win either. (Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 race, but sadly Narain Karthikeyan has more chance of winning the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday than the Finn).

But even if the statistics break-down, and Vettel does take an apparently simplistic victory on Sunday, the Chinese Grand Prix still promises to be a good race. Remember last year, when Button and Hamilton stood on the top two steps of the podium, providing Britain with its first one-two finish since 1999? The race was one of the most exciting of the epic 2010 season, with the frequently changing weather making the teams uncertain as to whether dry or intermediate tyres were the correct choice at any given moment.

Thanks to these inclement conditions, last year’s Chinese Grand Prix had 67 pit stops. For those that enjoyed the multiple pit stops last weekend in Malaysia – of which there were a mere 59 – then this could be another classic race for strategy-minded F1 aficionados

Even if the rain stays away, like it did at Sepang, there could still be a plethora of pit stops. Pirelli have identified the Shanghai International Circuit as a track that could cause stress and degradation on the tyres, thanks to its heavy braking and traction requirements. However, they expect that the lower track temperatures may mediate the rate of tyre wear.

Of course, even if the race does stay dry, and tyre wear is not a significant factor in the race, and Vettel streaks into an unassailable lead off the start line, there are still plenty of other stories elsewhere on the grid to provide some intrigue.

Mark Webber has only a fifth place and a fourth place to his name so far this season, having been comprehensively outshone by his team-mate in the first two races. Will he be able to get back on to the same level as Vettel, or was last season, as many expected, his one and only chance at the F1 title?

Will Renault, who has started the season so well, continue to provide a challenge to the top teams, allowing either Heidfeld or Vitaly Petrov to score the team’s third consecutive podium finish?

Both Mercedes drivers are looking forward to the race in Shanghai despite their team’s shocking start to the season. Can Michael Schumacher do anything at the scene of his last grand prix victory?

And Paul di Resta is fast emerging as the best new driver of the season, securing two tenth place finishes already. He out-qualified his Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil in both Australia and Malaysia and has not made any significant mistakes. Can he continue this impressive start?

Will Williams get a car to the end of a race for the first time in 2011? Will Hispania beat the 107% rule again? There are so many questions to be answered, both at the front and back of the grid.

But most importantly, China should give us an indication as to who is best placed to provide a consistent challenge to Sebastian Vettel this season. If nobody emerges, the four-word race previews will be a step closer to publication.

• Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix begins at 07:00 BST on Saturday with the race beginning at 08:00 BST on Sunday. For UK viewers, coverage of both sessions is on BBC One.
• There will be reports and reaction throughout the weekend here on thecheckeredflag.co.uk

The first event was the penultimate race of the 1999 season and, although won by Eddie Irvine, the race will be remembered for a dominant display from Michael Schumacher.

It was the German’s first race back after breaking his leg in Silverstone that July. He had no chance of the title himself, but Ferrari team-mate Irvine was in a position to challenge Mika Hakkinen for the title. Schumacher took an easy pole position, let Irvine pass him in the early stages of the race, and then spent the rest of the afternoon slowing the rest of the field, yet still finished the race just a second behind the other Ferrari. (Both Ferraris were later disqualified for irregular-sized barge boards and then reinstated on appeal. Hakkinen went on to win the championship decider in Japan and his second title)

Schumacher can only dream of similar dominance this year. As a Ferrari driver he won the Malaysian Grand Prix three times but last weekend in Australia the seven-time world champion’s Mercedes team showed little indication of being able to challenge Sebastian Vettel for the victory, even before both cars retired through collisions.

Surprisingly, it was McLaren who, despite being mediocre throughout pre-season testing, took the fight to Vettel in Australia. Lewis Hamilton in particular will be a big threat to Vettel in Malaysia, especially if Red Bull are again racing without KERS. The Sepang circuit has much longer straights than the streets of Albert Park, straight-line speed and acceleration are much more important for a good lap time, and so the power-boost system is much more useful here!

Other drivers looking forward to Malaysia after the first race will be Vitaly Petrov – who scored his maiden podium in Australia – and Sergio Perez. The Mexican rookie impressed Pirelli by requiring only one pit stop during the opening race, and would have scored points on his debut outing if it were not for his Sauber team flouting some minor technical regulations.

On the Saturday in Kuala Lumpur, all eyes in Q1 will be on Hispania as they attempt to beat the 107% rule and get at least one of their cars to qualify. Tonio Liuzzi tried his utmost to do this in Australia, and missed out by just one second. Narain Karthikeyan, however, looks woefully off the pace. Even if the team stick patiently with him, the former Jordan driver may not qualify for a race until the circus gets to Monaco, judging by his performance in the opening race.

One thing that HRT and the other new teams could benefit from is the tropical Malaysian weather. Heavy rain usually features at some point over the weekend – a heavy shower in qualifying caught out McLaren and Ferrari last year and allowed Lotus and Virgin a crack at Q2 last year, but then conditions remained fine for race day.

In fact, Malaysia rarely provides us with a dull race, with teams looking carefully at weather forecasts and ominous dark skies, trying to second guess the next deluge and adjusting strategies accordingly.

The Australian Grand Prix may have answered some of out pre-season questions about relative performance of the teams, the behaviour of the new tyres, and the new DRS. It left us with plenty more unanswered though, and Malaysia provides us with the first proper circuit of the season (i.e., not a street circuit) and should give us more clues as to whether or not Red Bull will be a truly dominant force this season, and which other team is best suited to stopping the Milton Keynes-based outfit in their quest to retain both titles. Either way, Malaysia will deliver an exciting second chapter in the epic story that is F1 in 2011!

The race begins at 08:00 BST and there will be reports and reaction throughout the weekend on TheCheckeredFlag

If the anticipation needed to be raised further for this new season, the promised mid-March start date was put back due to the civil unrest in Bahrain, and the fans, drivers, teams, and media have had to wait an extra fortnight before the action can begin.

But this weekend, the wait is over. The season will finally get underway – not in the Middle East, but in Australia. The public roads around the picturesque Albert Park once again become a grand prix circuit as the venue that provided one of the best races of 2010 kicks things off in 2011.

Last time F1 visited Australia, Jenson Button came away victorious thanks to an inspired and brave decision to switch to dry tyres before the rest of the field, on a track that had been soaked by a sudden pre-race downpour. A malfunctioning wheel nut denied Sebastian Vettel, who will be hoping for better luck this year.

If testing form is to be believed (and it can sometimes be deceiving), then Button is unlikely to score his third consecutive Australian Grand Prix victory on Sunday. McLaren have done far less testing mileage than Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes, and have shown little evidence of competitive pace. However, Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh is warning rivals not to write the team off.

Vettel would seem to have a much better chance though, with Red Bull impressing in terms of both performance and reliability over the course of the winter. Since finishing fifth in a Minardi in his first F1 race, team-mate Mark Webber has been desperately unlucky at his home race, never bettering that debut result. The Aussie will be hoping for an upturn in his fortunes this weekend.

Ferrari are also looking strong, completing more testing laps than any other team over the course of the pre-season, and Fernando Alonso should definitely not be discounted from the list of possible victors.

And neither should Mercedes, who were one of the surprise packages at the final Barcelona test. Four-time Australian Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap at the Circuit de Catalunya and he, team-mate Nico Rosberg, and Team Principal Ross Brawn are all sounding confident.

Other teams to watch with interest will be Williams, who have a car this season that is supposedly ‘pushing boundaries’ in terms of its design, and Sauber, who also seem to have taken a big step forward over the winter. Team Lotus are making loud noises about their chances of challenging the more established teams on the grid, and Australia will be the first chance for them to act on their claims.

Force India have hinted that they may be lacking in pace at the start of the season, but promise that this will only be a temporary glitch. Hispania though, have not even run their new car, the F111, in testing, and new drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Tonio Liuzzi may well be in for a frustrating weekend down under.

As the teams all attempt to find out where they find themselves in the competiveness stakes, they also have to adjust to the new regulations. The drivers will need to adapt to using KERS – obviously the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, who used the system extensively in 2009, may have an advantage – and the switchable rear-wing, which is new to everybody.

The whole paddock will also be looking very carefully at the new Pirelli tyres. Winter testing has shown that the softer compounds wear very quickly – a property actually requested by the teams when the Italian company were preparing the new compounds. This means that even dry races should contain more than just the mandatory single pit stop for each driver. Drivers and cars that are easier on their tyres should have an advantage.

All of these changes should, in theory at least, lead to more overtaking. Will it work in practice? Australia will be our first indication.

One thing that remains unchanged this weekend though is the circuit itself. Albert Park hosts its sixteenth grand prix and provides drivers with a number of challenges. The track begins the weekend with minimal grip, thanks to its role as public roads for the rest of the year, and also has plenty of bumps. The weather can be unpredictable and safety cars are common – there have been eight in the last five races.

These are just a selection of convincing reasons to forego the usual Sunday morning lie-in and be sat in front of the television to watch the five red lights go out at 07:00 BST, despite the fact that the clocks go forward that night and another hour of valuable sleep is stolen. Viewers in the UK will notice a difference to the BBC television coverage with Martin Brundle stepping-up to lead the commentary team and David Coulthard providing the race analysis.

Red Bull

Testing Summary

Red Bull have been the class of the field in winter testing, frequently setting the fastest times daily, and demonstrated good reliability throughout. Only Ferrari have completed more laps over the 15 days of pre-season running allowed to each team.

What they say:

Sebastian Vettel: “The preparation has been good. It was a long winter and we did a lot of kilometres, I think more than we ever have done before during testing, which is positive. Now we are just looking forward to Melbourne. If you ask me about performance, all I can say is I think we are there or thereabouts… Am I in a positive mood? Yeah, I think I am!”

Ian Morgan, Red Bull Director of Race Engineering: “We have a reliable car, that has been good out of the box, and the performance looks good too.”

Chances in 2011

Adrian Newey seems to have worked his magic again when designing the RB7. Vettel has shown his confidence in Red Bull by commiting to the team until the end of 2014, and with his first world title under his belt, the German could be unstoppable this season. Mark Webber has the right mental attitude to ensure that he doesn’t get left behind but, although he will undoubtedly win some races, he may struggle to beat his team-mate to the title.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Vettel – 1st; Webber – 3rd

McLaren

Testing Summary

It is fair to say that McLaren have had a mediocre testing period. The first test in Valencia was completed using an interim car, and with the MP4-26 the team have averaged just over 65 laps a day in these test sessions, whereas Ferrari have averaged over 100 a day with their new model.

In fact, eight teams have clocked up more mileage than the Woking-based outfit over the 15 days of testing. This might not have been so much of a problem if the new car was fast out of the box, but both drivers have indicated that they will be struggling to keep up with the front-runners as the season gets underway.

What they say:

Jenson Button (speaking to BBC Sport): “It’s going to be a tricky weekend [in Australia] but if anyone can pull back after tough testing it’s McLaren”

Lewis Hamilton: “I’m excited – we’ve got a long season ahead of us. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we have more updates coming for Melbourne. The championship is open, and we don’t know what to expect. Our whole team will be pushing very, very hard.”

Chances in 2011

McLaren could well be playing catch-up as 2011 gets underway, both in terms of performance and reliability. However, if anyone can develop their way out of trouble, it is this team. Hamilton is still one of the best drivers on the grid, and he will win races this season, if not straight away. Button should find that the fragile Pirelli tyres suit his smooth driving style more than his team-mate’s, and may have an advantage over his team-mate in the early races.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Hamilton – 4th; Button – 7th

Ferrari

Testing Summary

Ferrari were the first car to launch their new car, and this model comes with the trademark reliability of previous models. The Italian team completed over 100 laps more than any other team in pre-season testing, and were consistently in the upper-echelons of the timesheets with both drivers. Last Friday, the final dry day in Barcelona, Alonso managed a huge 141 laps, and only Michael Schumacher managed a faster time.

What They Say:

Fernando Alonso: “Overall, I think we will arrive in Melbourne in a hundred percent state of readiness, but whether or not that will be enough to win, we will not know until we are there in Australia. I feel confident, just as I did last year going into the start of the season. We are in good shape, even if we know we are not racing alone out there.”

Chances in 2011

Testing form suggests that Ferrari will be the closest to Red Bull as the season begins. Fernando Alonso will be more determined than ever to claim his third world championship after narrowly missing out at the end of last season. Felipe Massa will hopefully arrive in Australia with increased levels of confidence after a difficult 2010. The Brazilian will know that he has to start the season well if he wants equal status within the team this year.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Alonso – 2nd; Massa – 8th

Mercedes GP

Testing Summary

Michael Schumacher can boast the fastest lap time recorded at the Circuit de Catalunya throughout the entire pre-season test programme. Upgrade introduced at the final test session seem to have got Mercedes performance levels back, although Red Bull and Ferrari would probably both beat them in a straight fight. The team have had no major reliability issues over the last six weeks.

What They Say:

Nico Rosberg: “We are on the up for sure, and all credit to the team for getting the upgrades on the car and, most importantly, to see that they are working as expected.”

Michael Schumacher: “We’re certainly happy with our position going into the first race of the season.”

Ross Brawn: “We are happy with the structure that we applied to our pre-season testing programme, culminating in a good quantity of miles, and the car that we wanted to produce by the end of this test.”

Chances in 2011

Will this be the season where Michael Schumacher gets back to somewhere near his previous best? Mercedes look to have provided him with a decent car, unlike last season, and confidence within the team is on the up. Rosberg proved himself against Schumacher last season but, provided the car is good enough, needs to claim his first victory this season. Schumacher may well get his 92nd, especially if Vettel, Webber and Alonso are compromised by any unforeseen incidents. I may be sticking my neck out slightly with the prediction below, but it could happen…

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Schumacher – 5th; Rosberg – 6th

Renault

Testing Summary

Robert Kubica left Valencia with the fastest lap of the test to his name, but just days later was in a coma in an Italian hospital as doctors fought to save his right hand. Luckily the Pole is now recovering from his rally accident, but it left Renault with a race seat to fill for most, if not all, of 2011. They chose the out-of-work Nick Heidfeld to partner Vitaly Petrov in his second season of F1.

The R31 has looked promising throughout the pre-season test, and Renault could be one of the dark horses this year. All eyes were on their innovative exhaust design, which goes forward, past the driver, and exits over the floor of the car. This design should replace some of the downforce lost from the banning of the double diffuser, and could be copied by other teams as the season progresses.

Chances in 2011

The loss of Robert Kubica is a huge blow to the team. Renault now have two drivers without a race win between them, but Heidfeld is a consistent driver who does not generally make mistakes, and he will extract a reasonable level of performance from the car. Petrov was erratic last season, but he should have ironed out some of the mistakes for his second season.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Heidfeld – 9th; Petrov – 14th

Williams

Testing Summary

Williams mechanics will be sick of the mention of KERS after the winter tests, with the power-boost device seemingly responsible for many long hours tinkering in the garages rather than getting the FW33 out on track. The team disabled KERS for the final Barcelona test, although they insist that a working system will be utilised in Australia.

The team have, however, produced an innovative car which apparently ‘pushes boundaries’. When reliable, it has shown decent pace over the winter, with the team citing Rubens Barrichello as a key player in the development of the FW33.

What They Say:

Sam Michael, Williams Technical Director: “The FW33 has been a good car from the beginning, but in terms of performance we will have to wait until the racing to really see where it stands.”

Rubens Barrichello: “There is still a question mark about where we stand I know that we have improved but there are teams either side of us. I know how optimistic I am and I know how much I would love to say that we will do really well [in Australia], but what I will say is that I want to be in Q3 and to score points, and I think that is achievable.”

Chances in 2011

Although the KERS problem should be fixed as the season gets underway, there is still a question mark about reliability hanging over the team, and there could be mechanical retirements in the early races. It is hard to see Williams challenging for race wins, despite the alleged improvements in performance from last year’s FW32. Hopefully there will be podium finished from the Grove-based outfit, but the wait for the next victory is likely to continue.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Barrichello – 11th; Maldonado – 15th

Force India

Testing Summary

Force India haven’t exactly been pulling up trees throughout winter testing – they haven’t stolen the headlines by sticking a light car at the top of the timesheets – but have instead been quietly accumulating mileage and settling with laptimes that put them somewhere in the midfield.

What they Say:

Dominic Harlow, Force India Circuit Engineering Director: “We head to Australia with over 5,500km covered during the pre-season testing. As ever there is more to do to improve the performance of the car and there will be some further developments for the first race. Our reliability over the race distances here has been good and we’ve collected a lot of data on the tyre performance that we feel will be useful as we prepare our race strategies at the coming events.”

Chances in 2011

Since their debut in 2007, Force India have been steadily improving year on year. However, with the field predicted to be more competitive than ever this season, the Silverstone-based team will find it difficult to continue this trend in 2011. Paul di Resta comes into the team after winning last seasons’ DTM championship and could well be the best performing rookie. However, Nico Hulkenberg waits in the wings as test and reserve driver if either the Scot or team-mate Adrian Sutil are deemed to be under-performing.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Sutil – 10th; Di Resta – 12th

Sauber

Testing Summary

Only Ferrari and Red Bull completed more laps than Sauber in pre-season testing, and the Hinwil-based team stole some headlines as Sergio Perez set the fastest lap on Day Three in Barcelona (Wednesday 9th March), albeit on super-soft Pirelli tyres and low fuel. Sauber were guilty of ‘showboating’ in pre-season testing last season, in an attempt to attract sponsors, but are not under such pressures this season, and insist that their testing performances reflect the true pace of the C30.

What They Say:

James Key, Sauber Technical Director: “We have only had one repetitive problem and other minor issues, which occasionally pop up in testing anyway, as well as certain things that can be easily dealt with. Fundamentally the car has been reliable and there hasn’t been any great need for major re-designs or re-thinks in certain areas.”

Chances in 2011

The C30 is the first Sauber to be designed and built under the watchful eye of technical director James Key, and should be an improvement on last year’s effort. Kamui Kobayashi steps up to the role of team leader in just his second full season in F1, but the Japanese driver is an exciting prospect and consistently scored points last season once the team got into their stride. Sergio Perez is a bit of an unknown quantity as an F1 driver, but the 2010 GP2 runner-up is apparently adapting well to his new job, and it should be interesting watching his development.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Kobayashi – 13th; Perez – 19th

Toro Rosso

Testing Summary

The Red Bull sister team covered a reasonable amount of mileage over the pre-season testing period and, for what its worth, have shown reasonable pace on a number of occasions.

What They Say:

Jaime Alguersuari: “I would sum up all of the pre-season testing as reasonably positive for our team … I think we have a good car, which shows potential. However, we still need to improve a lot and that will involve plenty of hard work in the coming weeks.”

Chances in 2011

With Williams and Sauber seemingly making big advances on their cars compared to last year, Toro Rosso will need to make sure that they do not get left behind, or dragged into battle with the newer teams. Both Buemi and Alguersuari need to impress this season, as the highly-rated Daniel Ricciardo is next in line in the Red Bull Young Drivers Programme. If the pair can’t convince themselves worthy of a Red Bull race seat, they are likely to be cast out onto the same scrapheap as Sebastien Bourdais and Scott Speed were to make room for more emerging talent.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Buemi – 20th; Alguersuari – 18th

Team Lotus

Testing Summary

As the number of laps completed above suggests, Team Lotus haven’t had things all their own way with reliability over the last few weeks. Jarno Trulli seemed to be recipient of most of the bad luck, including managing only 6 laps on Day Three of the final test. However, Kovalainen ensured that the team finished pre-season testing on a high as he completed 138 laps on the last day.

What They Say:

Heikki Kovalainen: “It’s too early to make predictions but I think we’ll go to Melbourne and have a good chance to taking the step forward we want to.”

Mike Gascoyne, Team Lotus Chief Technical Officer: “It is clear that compared to this time last year we have made a huge step forward so … now we can look forward to the action in Melbourne.”

Chances in 2011

Team Lotus are promising a big improvement this season. They want to be challenging for points at the end of the year and, based on testing form, they will be on the pace of the likes of Toro Rosso and Sauber. The Team Lotus vs. Lotus Renault battle should be resolved on Monday 21st March before the contest resumes on the track.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Trulli – 17th; Kovalainen – 16th

Hispania Racing

Testing Summary

Hispania continue to be difficult to take seriously after they completed just five of the allowed fifteen days of pre-season testing, and didn’t even run the new F111. They unveiled their new car in the Barcelona pit lane but couldn’t run it on track as crucial parts were held up in customs. Admittedly, the 445 laps they completed is 445 more than they managed before the first race of last season.

Chances in 2011

With a car that has not yet completed a single lap, it is hard for even the most optimistic person to predict that Hispania will be firmly rooted to the back of the grid in Melbourne. This season they have two reasonably experienced drivers – although Narain Karthikeyan has not driven an F1 car since 2005 – which is an improvement on the situation last season when there were two rookies in the car. However, money may be a limiting factor for the team, and development on the F111 might again be non-existent. Furthermore, with the team’s record on driver rotation, who knows who will be in the car at the end of the season?

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Karthikeyan – 24th; Liuzzi – 23rd

Virgin Racing

Testing Summary

Timo Glock missed out on the final test in Barcelona as he recovered from appendicitis, so new driver Jerome D’Ambrosio got four consecutive days in the car. The team’s pace hasn’t really impressed much, but they have completed more laps than Team Lotus and Hispania, and if attrition is high amongst their rivals, they could pick up some decent finishing positions if they can show decent reliability on race days.

What They Say:

John Booth, Virgin Racing Team Principal: “We head to Australia in good spirits and eager to see where we stand with the usual barometer of outright performance that Friday Free Practice at the opening race typically provides.”

Jerome D’Ambrosio: “Over the course of the past four tests we have achieved a great deal of mileage, learned a lot about the new car and how to get the best from the current package and how we can develop it from here through the early part of the season.”

Chances in 2011

The team feel that they have made good progress and in Timo Glock they have a very competent driver. Whether this is enough to help them challenge the midfield teams, only time will tell. Jerome D’Ambrosio makes the move from GP2 (and Renault test driver) but it could be difficult for him to make much of an impression if the car is as far off the general pace as it was last season.

Drivers’ Championship Predictions: Glock – 21st; D’Ambrosio – 22nd

• TheCheckeredFlag will be providing in-depth previews, reports, analysis and opinions throughout the 2011 Formula 1 season, covering events both on and off the track.

Here we explain what a driver-adjustable rear wing is, how it works, and how it will be used. To begin with, however, we look at the reasons why they have to be introduced, and what the powers-that-be hope that the new device will achieve.

A common complaint of many F1 fans is the perceived lack of overtaking in the sport, especially compared to other forms of racing such as touring cars. The main reason for this deficiency is the advanced aerodynamics of an F1 car in that, when one car closely follows another, it has to re-use the air of the car in front. This so-called dirty air has already been displaced and manipulated by the lead car and, when receiving it ‘second-hand’, the car following cannot take full advantage of it. As a result, the car behind experiences decreased aerodynamic grip when cornering, and struggles to keep close enough to its rival to mount a successful challenge for the position.

There have been many attempts to get around this problem. Last season, flexible front rings were introduced, allowing the drivers to change the angle of the wing when following another car. In practice, this did little to help, and these driver-adjustable flaps have been abandoned for 2011. The restrictions on diffusers introduced for the 2009 season, which Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota famously found the loophole that led to the double diffuser, were introduced to allow pursuing car to run closer to their rival. The double diffuser has been banned for this season, which may help to address the problem.

Where overtaking does take place, it is usually when one driver has a straight-line speed advantage over the car in front. This can be achieved by a process known as slip-streaming, where the driver behind eliminates some of the drag on the front of his car by closely following another. With less drag, the chasing driver can build up speed behind his rival and then, when he pulls out alongside, although both drivers are now subjected to the same amount of force, the slip-streamer has more momentum, and can power past his rival. At tracks with long straights, such as Malaysia, China and Monza, those drivers with Mercedes engines – generally considered the most powerful on the grid – found it reasonably easy to get past their rivals. With more horsepower available to them and, with extra help from a slip-stream, they would have their nose ahead at the end of the straight, and could take the position into the corner.

This is why KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), introduced in 2009, helped with overtaking. The driver had a button on the steering wheel which, when pressed, would use energy stored under braking to give the engine a power boost, resulting in a few extra horsepower on the straights. However, the system was expensive to develop, and there was a large weight penalty for any driver using it. McLaren were the only team to consistently use it, Ferrari chose to deploy it at selected tracks, Renault had a go, and everybody else decided it was more trouble than it was worth.

Of course, if everybody used KERS, which was tightly regulated in terms of the amount of boost and the length of time it could be deployed each lap, then there would be little or no benefit to the driver doing the overtaking, as the driver defending the position could press their own button, and the boosts of the squabbling pair would be cancelled out.

The new-for-2011 driver-adjustable rear wings basically consist of a flap on the rear-wing which is closed for most of the lap, providing the car with the most downforce. When a driver presses a button on his steering wheel, the flap lifts. This allows air through the wing, decreasing its effectiveness, and improving the straight-line speed of the car.

So far, this sounds similar to last season’s F-duct, the device developed first by McLaren. It allowed the driver to direct air onto the rear wing when required, spoiling its aerodynamic effect, and increasing the straight line speed of the car. Other teams developed similar devices, McLaren’s advantage was lost, and the FIA have banned this ingenious concept for 2011.

The driver-adjustable rear wing differs crucially in that the driver can only use the device when race control allows them. The regulations will allow rear-wing adjustments at any time during practice and qualifying, so drivers can use the device on every straight, maximising their lap time. This will also allow their engineers to set the correct gear ratios to take advantage of the device, and not have the rev limiter bouncing off the 18,000 limit when the flap is raised.

So far it all sounds pretty straightforward. But when the race starts, the regulations get more complex, and the opportunities for a driver to use this device becomes much more limited. The device may not be used at all during the first two laps of a race (for safety reasons) and after that it can only be used ‘for the sole purpose of improving overtaking opportunities’.

Race Control will alert the driver as to when he can use the device with a light in the cockpit, similar to the blue flag lights currently used to warn backmarkers of a faster car approaching. The rear-wing adjustment will only be enabled when a car is less than a second behind another, and only at predetermined positions around the track. The driver can then decide whether or not to activate the system by pressing a button on his steering wheel. The rear-wing will return to its closed position the next time the driver touches his brake pedal (i.e. at the next corner).

Of course, if a driver can just sail past an opponent easily, the skill is taken out of overtaking. The overtaken driver will just bide his time until the next straight, where he can use exactly the same method to re-take the position. Cars would change places four or five times a lap, and it would be, quite frankly, ridiculous. However, the FIA will, apparently, carefully choose the point on a straight at which the driver can adjust his rear-wing, to ensure that overtaking remains a challenge.

And how will the watching audience know whether the driver is using the system in an overtaking manoeuvre? One expects that the on-board graphics on the television pictures – those that show the revs, gears and speed of a particular driver – will also now show when the system can be enabled and whether the driver is using it or not, in a similar way to how it showed KERS usage back in 2009. Fans at the track, however, may be completely oblivious to how the system is being used.

This new device is an interesting idea, but could have some potential pit falls. The real test of the system will be ensuring that overtaking still remains challenging, and that a skilful driver still has more chance of overtaking than one who is less able. The complexity of it, and the fact that it seems a bit too artificial in the way that it engineers overtaking opportunities, means it will have its critics.

There have been many attempts over recent years to improve overtaking in Formula 1 without much success. Will the driver-adjustable rear wings be the silver bullet that solves the problem?

Pre-season testing begins in less than a month – Tuesday 1^st February, at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, Valencia – and the driver line-up is almost complete. There are a few pieces of the jigsaw to fall into place but, as we recover from our New Year celebrations, now seems like as good a time as any to assess which teams have chosen wisely and where there is potential for fireworks.

Red Bull Racing-Renault

Car #1: Sebastian Vettel (DEU)

2: Mark Webber (AUS)

Vettel will be looking to defend his maiden championship next year and, if Adrian Newey car develop a car as good as the RB6, he will be favourite to take the 2011 title. It will be interesting to see if Webber can bounce back from his 2010 disappointment in what could be his last season at the Milton Keynes-based outfit. The Australian only has a contract for one more year and, at 34, will need to impress again this season if he is to remain with the champion constructor. Red Bull will no doubt refuse to issue team orders again in 2011, which could see renewed tensions between team-mates.

McLaren-Mercedes

3: Lewis Hamilton (GBR)

4: Jenson Button (GBR)

Hamilton remained in the championship hunt up until the final race of last season, even though the MP4/25 was rarely the fastest car on the grid. If McLaren can get their act together and produce a car as good as their 2007 and 2008 models, then Hamilton should take his second title. Button impressed last season by winning two of the opening four races, but was often slower than his team-mate in the latter stages of 2010. He will need to show that, now he is settled into the McLaren environment, he is as fast as Hamilton.

Ferrari

5: Fernando Alonso (ESP)

6: Felipe Massa (BRA)

Massa signed a new contract last year which will keep him at Ferrari until the end of 2012, much to the surprise of onlookers, who thought that the Scuderia may try and attract someone like Robert Kubica to partner their double world champion. Alonso established himself as a clear number one driver in his first season at Ferrari and, despite senior team personnel saying otherwise, one suspects that he will continue to be the top driver at the team in 2011. The Spaniard is sure to be there or thereabouts as the championship battle reaches its climax in November.

Mercedes

7: Michael Schumacher (DEU)

8: Nico Rosberg (DEU)

Most people acknowledge that Schumacher’s performance in his comeback season was rather underwhelming, and this year he can have no excuses. The new Pirelli tyres will level the playing-field and the seven-time world champion will have had much more input into this season’s car, which should now be better adapted to his driving style. If Mercedes have designed a car capable of challenging for the 2011 title, then we should see both Schumacher and Rosberg taking race victories.

Lotus Renault (aka Renault)

9: Robert Kubica (POL)

10: Vitaly Petrov (RUS)

Last year’s Renault team have now been rebranded Lotus Renault after Malaysian car company Proton became title sponsor and part-owner of the Enstone-based team. They announced last month that Vitaly Petrov had signed a contract for the next two-years, and the Russian will need to show that he can live with the extraordinary pace of team-mate Robert Kubica.

Williams-Cosworth

11: Rubens Barrichello (BRA)

12: Pastor Maldonado (VEN)

Williams were very happy with Barrichello in 2010 and rewarded the Brazilian veteran with a drive for 2011. Nico Hulkenberg has been dropped, despite being the most impressive rookie of 2010, and is replaced by GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado. The team insist that this move is based purely on driver talent and that it is not a financial decision, although sceptics insist that the Venezuelan brings a lot of sponsorship money with him, making him a more appealing choice than Hulkenberg.

Force India-Mercedes

14: TBA (probable choice: Adrian Sutil (DEU); rumoured: Nico Hulkenberg (DEU))

15: TBA (possibilities: Paul di Resta (GBR); Tonio Liuzzi (ITA))

Force India has not yet confirmed their drivers for 2011, although it is believed that both Sutil and Liuzzi still have contracts for next season. Sutil is too good not be in Formula 1, despite his tendency to be involved in the odd accident. The German was rumoured to be heading to Renault, and was even linked with Ferrari at one point, but will probably remain in Vijay Mallya’s team as there is now nowhere else for him to go. It is thought that Paul di Resta, the 2010 DTM champion, will replace Tonio Liuzzi for 2011, stepping up from his role as test and reserve driver. Hulkenberg is thought to be heading to the team as the new reserve driver, although a team source has been reported to suggest that Sutil may be dropped.

Sauber-Ferrari

16: Kamui Kobayashi (JPN)

17: Sergio Perez Mendoza (MEX)

Kobayashi starts his second full season in Formula 1 as leader of the Sauber team. Nick Heidfeld, who raced for the team for the final five races of 2010, was dropped in favour of Sergio Perez, who is backed by Mexican telecoms company Telmex, and brings some much needed sponsorship to the Swiss team.

STR-Ferrari

18: Sebastien Buemi (SUI)

19: Jaime Alguersuari (ESP)

Toro Rosso chose not to name any drivers’ on the FIA entry list for 2011, but confirmed that Buemi and Alguersuari would remain as their race drivers when they announced that Daniel Riccardo would be their test and reserve driver this season. Last year, both drivers put in solid, if unspectacular performances, although Alguersuari did show good improvement, and that he was adjusting to life in F1. If 2011 is to be Mark Webber’s last season with Red Bull, then his successor at the Toro Rosso sister team is likely to come from this pairing, so they will need to impress this year.

Lotus-Renault (aka Team Lotus, 1Malaysia)

20: Jarno Trulli (ITA)

21: Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)

To avoid the confusion of having two teams called ‘Lotus Renault’ on next season’s grid, Tony Fernandes is hoping to use the Team Lotus name, which he claims to have purchased the rights to. If not, the team from Hingham, Norfolk, may have to revert to the name 1Malaysia. They keep the same driver line-up of race winners Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen as they look to challenge the more established teams in 2011

HRT-Cosworth

22/23: Confirmed: Narain Karthikeyan (IND)

Second driver:Who knows? The selection could include anyone from Christian Klien, Lucas di Grassi, Nick Heidfeld, Pedro de la Rosa, Sakon Yamamoto or it could be a completely different pair of drivers.

Narain Karthikeyan, who drove for Jordan in 2005, makes a surprise return to F1 in 2011 with Hispania. The first Indian to compete in the sport will, all being well, participate in the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in October. For the second half of 2010, it was difficult to predict which two drivers Hispania would be using at the next grand prix, and so guessing who will partner Karthikeyan in 2011 is nigh on impossible. Owner Jose Ramon Carabante said, before the confirmation of their first driver, that the team are talking to ‘five or six’ drivers about their 2011 line-up. The BBC have reported that it is unlikely that either Karun Chandhok or Bruno Senna will remain with the team.

Virgin-Cosworth

24: Timo Glock (DEU)

25: Jerome D’Ambrosio (BEL)

Experienced driver Timo Glock remains with Virgin Racing for 2011 and will be joined by Belgian rookie Jerome D’Ambrosio, who replaces Lucas di Grassi. The team seem less well-equipped than (Norfolk) Lotus to challenge the established teams, but should still be comfortably ahead of Hispania on pace.

Four drivers can still win this, the greatest prize in motorsport. Two have won it before, and two are within 55 laps of winning it for the first time.

Of those who have won it before, Fernando Alonso is in a much better position to win another. If the Spaniard wins or comes second on Sunday, then a third title is his, regardless of what the other contenders manage.

On the other hand, Hamilton needs a miracle if he is going to claim title number two. He must win in Abu Dhabi, Alonso must fail to score, Mark Webber must finish sixth or lower and Sebastian Vettel must finish no higher than third.

But perhaps the biggest intrigue will be the battle between the Red Bull pair. Fresh from securing their team the constructors’ title in Brazil with a one-two finish, Vettel and Webber have pace and the talent to get the same result in the Middle East.

Indeed, Vettel led a one-two finish for the team at the inaugural race last year. To win his first championship though, the German can’t just rely on his own driving ability – he also needs a bit of luck from somewhere else. To lead a one-two here on Sunday is not enough – Alonso will still be champion if he finishes third. Vettel needs Alonso to finish fifth or lower if he is going to be the world champion.

Incidentally, if we have a scenario where Vettel wins, Webber is second, and Alonso is fifth, all three drivers would have 256 points. Vettel would beat Webber on race wins (5-4) but the German would have the same number of wins, second-places, and third-place finishes as Alonso (5, 2 and 3 of each). A count-back to fourth-place finishes would give Vettel the title (he wins 3-2 on these).

If Mark Webber gets the win, then he needs Alonso to finish third or lower – meaning he needs someone, his teammate perhaps, to take second place. And here is where the interest lies. If, with two laps remaining, Vettel leads Webber with Alonso third, will the German move over to hand the title to the teammate he has been fiercely competing against all season?

These are circumstances that Red Bull could realistically find themselves in, given that Vettel has out-performed Webber in the last four races, and won in Abu Dhabi last season. One assumes that Vettel will move over voluntarily for the good of the team, but it may take a nudge from Christian Horner, his team principal.

Webber must definitely finish fifth or higher if he is going to have any hope of winning the title, and Vettel needs to be first or second. The Renault engines in the back of the RB6s are coming to the end of their working lives, and finishing the race in Abu Dhabi isn’t a forgone conclusion. Alonso is also in the same boat, if not even more marginal on engines, and so engine longevity for these drivers may be key in deciding the fate of the title.

Championship permutations aside, there are a few other things to be tidied up this weekend. Williams and Force India are locked in a tight battle for sixth place in the constructors’ championship. That may sound like a small triviality, but could mean millions of pounds extra in next season’s budget for whichever team claims it. Williams have the position at the moment, but are only one point ahead of Force India.

There is also the battle of the new teams to consider – or the battle for tenth place, as it is otherwise known. Lotus Racing currently holds that position, thanks to a twelfth place finish for Heikki Kovalainen in Japan.  If Hispania or Virgin Racing wants to leapfrog them, one of their cars will have to finish eleventh or higher. Considering there were only two retirees in Abu Dhabi last season, this is quite an unlikely prospect.

There are other drivers on the grid who will be driving for themselves. Although the top teams have settled driver line-ups for 2011, there are positions to be filled down the rest of the grid. Drivers under threat of the boot from their existing teams will be going for a good final performance, whilst other drivers will be treating Abu Dhabi as a shop window, hoping to impress prospective employers. There may be a larger degree of pushing and overtaking attempts, all adding to the spectacle.

The sport also says a farewell to Bridgestone this weekend, after fourteen seasons of providing tyres for Formula 1. The Japanese company have had a successful time in the Formula 1, claiming ten drivers’ and ten constructors’ championships. They also managed to provide tyres which allowed cars to go round Turn 13 at Indianapolis in the 2005 United States Grand Prix, something that rivals Michelin failed to do that year.

The Yas Marina Circuit is without doubt the most expensive on the calendar, and in some ways the most spectacular. It is a ‘technical’ track, and does lack the exciting, flowing corners of somewhere like Spa or Suzuka, but drivers are challenged, and can make mistakes. The fact that the race begins in daylight and ends in darkness provides an additional challenge to the drivers, who have to manage tyre temperatures and grip levels as the track cools. Oh, and the pit lane exit goes through a tunnel underneath the first corner.

Qualifying begins at 13:00 GMT this Saturday, with the race starting exactly 24 hours later. There will be reports, reaction, and comment available on this website throughout the weekend as the 2010 F1 champion is crowned.

And then it all begins again – 17 weeks later – back in Bahrain.

The last four champions have been crowned in Interlagos, venue for this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix. Jenson Button secured the championship with one race to spare last year –Alonso can pull off the same feat this season.

In fact, Brazil has provided us with some fantastic memories in recent years. Webber took the race win last season but his celebrations were overshadowed by those in the Brawn GP garage as they celebrated Button’s fifth place – and the four points that secured him the championship.

In 2008 Felipe Massa was standing on the top step of the podium at his home race but all eyes were on Hamilton who, in the closing corners of the race, on a drying track, overtook the Toyota of Timo Glock to claim fifth place and enough points for his title. This manoeuvre cut short the celebrations of Massa’s family, who thought that the drivers’ title was heading to their man. Unbridled joy quickly turned to deep disappointment as they learned of Hamilton’s pass.

In 2007, all the talk was of the rivalry between McLaren teammates Alonso and Hamilton. The Brit had an excellent chance of clinching the championship in his debut season.  Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two that day, securing a championship win that had seemed incredibly unlikely just a few races earlier.

In fact, Raikkonen’s 2007 campaign mirrors Alonso’s 2010 season in many respects. Both won their first race with Ferrari, and then didn’t win again until the middle of the season. Raikkonen won three of the last four races of that season (and had podium finishes in all of the last seven) and came from behind to take the title. Alonso seemed completely out of contention as he finished fourteenth at the British Grand Prix in July, but has won four of the last seven races (including the controversial victory in Germany) and now leads Webber by 11 points. Will history repeat itself for Ferrari? Can Alonso take the victory (and possibly the title) in Brazil on Sunday?

Alonso won his 2006 at the final race of the season in Brazil. Michael Schumacher was his only challenger, but he started tenth before a puncture dropped the German to the back of the field. Schumacher fought through the field to finish fourth but a second place finish was enough for Alonso to take his second title while Massa took the race win.

And Massa may be crucial in Alonso’s battle for the title this weekend. Much has been made of the fact that Alonso has the backing of his teammate this year, whilst his rivals at Red Bull and McLaren are still fighting for intra-team supremacy.

However, apart from gifting Alonso the win in Germany, Massa has not really done much else to help the Spaniard. For most of the season Massa has been woefully off his teammates’ pace, has failed to take points off Alonso’s title rivals, and certainly hasn’t been in a position to gift Alonso any more race victories.

But Massa loves his home race. He has won here twice, and is expected to be very competitive in front of his home fans. There may be a small-scale riot if he lets Alonso past him as blatantly as he did earlier this year, but he can at least be expected to take points off the other championship contenders.

Alonso, then, has a willing teammate, a fast and reliable car, leading on points, and the momentum that can be very important as the title reaches its climax. He is undoubtedly the favourite for the title, but it would take a stellar drive, and a fair bit of luck, to win it in Brazil.

There may be five still mathematically in with a chance of the 2010 crown, but despite any illusions that Jenson Button may have, there are only really four in with any realistic chance. Button will be completely out of contention at the end of this weekend unless he wins the race or comes second.

Even if Button manages to win on Sunday, he needs to hope that Alonso doesn’t finish any higher than seventh. If, by some remarkable turn of events, this does happen, he will then have to go to Abu Dhabi hoping for a similar result if he is going take the title – all whilst praying that his other title rivals don’t pick up too many points. In summary then: it isn’t going to happen.

Sebastian Vettel needs to finish ahead of Alonso to keep his title chances alive – something he could realistically do, especially as he has what is still regarded as the fastest car on the grid. He was driving a faultless race in Korea until his engine let go, claimed a sumptuous victory in Japan, and can’t be ruled out in the same way as Button can.

Hamilton is 21 points behind Alonso, but if he does well in Brazil and the Spaniard doesn’t, then the F1 title may head to Britain for a third consecutive season. McLaren seem to have upped their game since disappointing results in Italy and Singapore and, if anyone can overturn this points deficit in two races, it would be Lewis Hamilton.

The Brit also has statistics on his side. In his debut season (2007), he finished this race seventh. The next year, it was fifth place for Hamilton in Brazil. Last year, he got on the podium with a third place finish. If we follow this trend, victory will be his in Interlagos on Sunday.

Despite all this, Mark Webber is the challenger with the most to be optimistic about. True, he went from leading the title race by 14 points to trailing Alonso by 11 points thanks to his mistake in the rain in Korea – but the same thing could happen in reverse this weekend, and the Aussie could head to Abu Dhabi topping the standings. Indeed, if he can finish ahead of Alonso in Brazil, especially with him repeating his race win of last season, then the whole title race will be finely balanced for the final race.

There is the prospect of rain in Sao Paulo at some point this weekend, so we could end up with a mixed grid, or even a chaotic race – just as unpredictable as the Korean Grand Prix. This season has provided so much excitement in the previous seventeen races, and there could well be some more twists and turns in store on Sunday.

Qualifying and the race begin at 16:00 GMT this Saturday and Sunday, respectively. There will be plenty of reports, comments, and reaction on this site throughout the weekend.

With three races to go five drivers have a mathematic possibility and a realistic chance of securing the converted Formula One 2010 crown, and as we break new ground in Asia, the forthcoming race is crucial to which driver will carry number 1 next season.

The Korean track is a feat within its self, after only being granted the appropriate licence 10 days before the first car will hit the track, and with the top layer of asphalt having only been laid 3 weeks ago the race could threaten throw up a surprise result.

The 5.621 km track has been positively reviewed by a majority of F1 drivers, but the architect, F1’s designated architect, Herman Tilke has compared the current state of the circuit as a ‘building site’ and has admitted work will continue on the venue until Sunday.

Despite this, the championship rumbles into town with a full head of steam after Sebastian Vettel’s routine victory in Japan, and he now holds joint second place with Fernando Alonso with 206 points. They both trail leader Mark Webber by 14 points however have a slight cushion two the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button who trail by 14 and 17 points respectively.

It’s Alonso who seemingly has the momentum going into the inugrial Korean Grand Prix after claiming three victories from the last six Grand Prix and has openly admitted his ability to pick up podiums from now until the end of the season that will win him this championship. With the added backing from Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, Germany seems like a distance dream as Ferrari plot to take advantage of both McLaren and Red Bull have both drivers in the title hunt.

Lewis Hamilton has slipped further out of the title contention as he suffered more technical gremlins in Japan which set back his title chances further. The 2008 champion had lead the championship at the Belgium Grand Prix, but too many mistakes has cost the Englishman and he now lies 28 points behind Webber.

The resurgence of Ferrari has caught McLaren off guard and Jenson Button has suffered as much as Teammate Hamilton. Apart from his second place at Monza, Button has only graced the podium once since his last victory in China in April, and his championship cause has slipped because of this.

However, a simple DNF for any of the three title contenders above them could see both McLarens firmly back in the running, especially if the unlucky candidate is Mark Webber.

Webber holds a commanding lead at the head of the championship and has all right to look down smugly on those so far adrift. Despite his second place in Suzuka to team mate Vettel, Webber is confident he can clinch the title, providing he can beat his young team mate in just one of the remaining three races.

However it’s Sebastien Vettel who is the man on top form after gaining ground on Webber, but with Red Bull stressing equal treatment for both drivers Vettel with have to fight Webber and out pace him outright to take the crown.

The Korean track throws up a number of different predictions, and it is hard to say ho will have the performance advantage. McLaren have brought a number of upgrades to hopefully compete with the already strong Red Bulls and the ever surprising Ferrari.

Further down the field there are key battles for position in the constructors’ championship. Williams and Force India are fighting for sixth place in the standings and are currently covered by the mere margin of two points, as Williams look to cash in on there end of season form.

Just above this battle sit Renault and Mercedes. Renault were running in a very strong second place at Suzuka until a lose wheel cost the team what could have been a very strong result. Renault sit 43 points behind the Mercedes outfit, however Robert Kubica believes it will be too much of an ask to catch the Brackley based outfit.

Kamui Kobayashi entertained many at his home race in Suzuka with his spectacular overtakes and his Sauber team to a strong 7^th and 8^th place finish in Suzuka with Nick Heidfeld following his lesser experienced team mate home.

Towards the back of the grid Lotus celebrates 12^th and 13^th places in Japan after many DNF’s ahead of them. They were followed two laps down by Timo Glock with fellow new comers Virgin. His teammate Lucas Di Grassi was unable to cash in on the amount of DNF’s as he became the first, crashing on his way to the grid at 130R.

HTR are expected to keep the same driver line up as Suzuka, but keep up to date as this could change to the highest bidder at any given moment.

Unlike the previous race at Suzuka, Korea has no notable corners or sections as you would expect as it is the debut weekend for the track. However, what it lacks in history, tradition and spectacle Korea hopes to deliver a truly memorable race.

This 5.807km circuit is the only figure-of-eight circuit on the calendar, and it is one of the favourite of both drivers and spectators. There are famous corners, such as ‘the esses’, Degner, Spoon and, of course, 130R – taken at over 190mph in 7^th gear. Look up this track in any F1 publication and you will see comments such as “One of the world’s great circuits” and “One of the best circuits in the world”.

Up until 2003, Suzuka was the traditional end-of-season venue, and as a result, many champions have been crowned there including, in relatively recent times, Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Damon Hill. However, the 2010 title race will still be undecided as the checkered flag falls to mark the end of Sunday’s race, although we may have a clearer idea of who the eventual victor will be.

Fernando Alonso was on the top step of the podium in Singapore, but arguably the real winner from that night race was Mark Webber. His championship lead was increased from five points to eleven, but these are still narrow margins under the new points system.  The Red Bull driver has a very competitive car underneath him, and is in the strongest position to claim the title.

Alonso, who boasts three victories from the last five races, including the last two, clearly has the momentum though and, from looking like a plucky also-ran just a month ago, is now undoubtedly Webber’s main threat for the title.

Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, who was leading the championship after the Belgian Grand Prix, has slipped down the standings thanks to his two DNFs in Italy and Singapore. He sits 20 points behind Webber and, with just four races to go, needs a huge result in Japan just to stay in the hunt for his second title. The McLaren has not been as competitive as Red Bull and the resurgent Ferrari in recent races, and this fight-back will be difficult for the 2008 champion.

Of course, if Hamilton is still in with a chance of glory, so is Sebastian Vettel, who is just one point behind the Brit, and Jenson Button, just five points off his McLaren teammate. In fact, all five title contenders are still covered by the amount of points handed out for a race victory, and a DNF for Alonso or Webber this weekend will be enough to breathe new life into their challenges. However, as the races tick down, and the finale in Abu Dhabi gets ever closer, the opportunities for these trailing three will continue to evaporate. This weekend is crucial if they are to keep their title aspirations on track.

Ferrari are looking strong after Singapore

So who will have the performance advantage at Suzuka? Ferrari has shown that their car is very versatile, and can be made to suit a variety of track types. There is a question mark over engines though – Alonso has no new engines available to use without incurring a ten-place grid penalty, and the final engine of his allocation has already taken him to victory in Italy and Singapore. All of his title rivals have one more new engine up their sleeve.

Red Bull are fast everywhere and probably still has the fastest car on the grid. McLaren have been struggling with pace against their title rivals since Belgium, although Suzuka should suit the MP4-25 better than Singapore did.

Further down the grid there is an intense rivalry building between Force India and Williams, who are fighting for sixth place in the constructors’ championship. Sixth and tenth places for Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg mean that Williams are within just four points of Force India – a tiny margin.

The intrigue at Mercedes continues as well. Ross Brawn and the rest of the team management continue to state that Michael Schumacher will be racing for them next season, and that they should be fighting for race wins. Schumacher had another difficult race in Singapore though, colliding with both of the Sauber drivers, and generally showed poor pace compared to teammate Nico Rosberg. However, he can boast six race wins at Suzuka, far more than any of the current drivers (Alonso, Barrichello and Vettel each have one) and the seven-time world champion has tended to perform better this season at circuits that he knows well.

Nick Heidfeld, who has returned to F1 to replace Pedro de la Rosa, did a solid job for Sauber in Singapore. He qualified fourteenth in his first race of 2010, behind teammate Kamui Kobayashi who made it into Q3, and was going reasonably well in the race until he succumbed to Schumacher in an optimistic overtaking manoeuvre. He may pose more of a challenge to his rookie teammate in Japan.

At the back of the grid Lotus are celebrating the deal they signed with Red Bull this week to receive gearboxes and hydraulic systems, and are expected to announce a Renault engine deal soon. Tony Fernandes’ team clearly has aspirations to make their way up the grid next season, and will be using the final four races of 2010 to consolidate their position ahead of Virgin Racing and HRT.

In contrast to this, nobody is entirely sure what is going on at HRT. Writing this on Wednesday, I have no idea which two drivers will be appearing in the car at Suzuka, although I suspect Sakon Yamamoto will have recovered from his bout of Singaporean ‘food poisoning’ and be in the car for his home race. Bruno Senna will probably be alongside him, although if there is a higher bidder, it could be someone else. This switching of drivers is an indication that money is tight in this team, and who knows if they will be on the grid in 2011.

There are plenty of reasons to sacrifice the weekend lie-ins and tune-in to the action this weekend: the excitement of the championship battle, the last chances for some drivers to get a seat for next season, and the inter-team battles up and down the grid. With just four races to go, every point and every position is valuable, and this Japanese Grand Prix should be very entertaining.

Qualifying starts at 06:00 BST on Saturday morning and if it is anything like last years’ session, it will be worth watching. The short run-off areas and gravel traps caught out many drivers, especially around the Degner curve, and the session had to be red-flagged twice in Q2. Timo Glock was unfortunately taken to hospital with minor injuries after crashing in Q3 and five drivers were given five-place grid penalties after the session. The race on Sunday begins at 07:00 BST and reports and reaction will be available throughout the weekend on this site.

This weekend is the third race around the Southeast Asian city. The grand prix takes place in a glamorous setting – the cars meander around towering skyscrapers and speed alongside a grand marina – and spectacular illuminations provide an added element of ambience. The 5.073km circuit is lit by 1,600 light projectors, which have a total power requirement of 3,180,000 watts.

In its short history this event has managed to attract more than its fair share of intrigue and controversy. The inaugural event in 2008 was won by Alonso, in what spectators thought at the time was a fortunate series of events, contriving to give the Spaniard his first victory at Renault since leaving McLaren on awkward terms.

Of course, it emerged last year that Renault’s managing director Flavio Briatore and director of engineering Pat Symonds were involved in telling Alonso’s teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr., to crash his car after Alonso had made an early pit stop. The plan, which was executed to perfection, was that Piquet’s crash would force the deployment of the safety car before rivals had made their pit stops, hugely enhancing Alonso’s chances of victory.

The plot emerged when Piquet was dropped by the team midway through the 2009 season and Renault had dismissed the pair even before the World Motor Sport Council hearing. The Brazilian driver was granted a whistle-blowers amnesty after disclosing the deceit to the FIA, but Briatore and Symonds were given a lifetime and five-year ban, respectively, from FIA-sanctioned events. The sentences have since been overturned in the French courts.

The so-called Crashgate story reached its climax, conveniently, just as F1 was making its second visit to Singapore last season. The race was won by Lewis Hamilton, taking his second victory of a difficult year. Mark Webber’s title challenge came to an abrupt end has his brakes failed on Lap 45 of 61, whilst the remaining contenders Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, and Rubens Barrichello finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Vettel got a penalty for speeding in the pit-lane last year, the kind of foolish mistake that he will need to avoid this time round.

Red Bull are expected to have the fastest car this weekend, and it would be a brave person who would bet against something other than an RB6 taking pole on Saturday. The two McLaren drivers have said this week that they are optimistic that they will be able to compete with Webber and Vettel on pace though.

The Red Bull duo was supremely dominant at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, about two seconds faster than McLarens. The Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore has similar low-speed high-downforce characteristics, but McLaren believe the major aerodynamic upgrades that will feature on the MP4-25 should narrow this gap.

Also in the mix this weekend will be Alonso and Ferrari. The Spaniard will not have a team around him cheating their way to victory on Sunday, but even without underhand tactics Alonso did manage third place last year in a difficult Renault. He likes this circuit, and has momentum behind him after taking victory in Monza. Ferrari also has less of a deficit to Red Bull to overhaul: they were only about 0.5 seconds off the pace in Hungary.

While the direction of the title battle will hog the headlines next Monday morning, there are other scores to be settled up and down the grid. A quick look at the constructor’s standings not only shows that just three points separate Red Bull and McLaren, but that other team are closely matched going into the final stages of the season. Ferrari may require a miracle to finish any higher than their current third position, but only 31 points separate Mercedes from Renault in fourth and fifth. Force India is far from guaranteed their current sixth place, with Williams just 11 points behind. Toro Rosso will want to finish above Sauber and there is of course the battle of the new teams.

Neither Lotus, Hispania nor Virgin is likely to score their maiden point in the final five races, and either Hispania or Virgin will need a twelfth place finish to rise above Lotus in the standings. Hispania have Karun Chandhok’s two fourteenth place finishes to thank for being ahead of Virgin, and the cash-strapped team would like to remain there and avoid the ignominy of finishing last.

Michael Schumacher will be looking for some good results to round off the first (and possibly only) season of his F1 return. He has never raced at Singapore, but as a five-time victor in Monaco, he will be looking to impress on a similar circuit.

There are also drivers hoping to secure a race seat for next year, including Vitaly Petrov, Nico Hulkenberg, Tonio Liuzzi, all of whom are still waiting to hear whether they will be retained by their existing teams for 2011. Other drivers, such as Lucas di Grassi, Bruno Senna, and Sakon Yamamoto, don’t yet know for certain if their teams will still be around next year, if paddock rumours are to be believed. They will also be looking to impress other potential employers.

In other news, Nick Heidfeld makes a return to racing after sitting out the first fourteen rounds of this season, first as Mercedes test driver, and then as he tested tyres for Pirelli. The German will take the wheel of the Sauber previously occupied by Pedro de la Rosa.

For an idea of the atmosphere, the goings on around the track, and for a view of the race from a fans perspective, follow me on Twitter (see name below). I will be leaving for Singapore later this week and, wifi-access permitting, will be able to share my experiences from the Far East.

Alonso’s title chances took a hit in Belgium at the end of August. During the end of the race in Spa, a spin in the wet dumped him unceremoniously out of a points-paying position. Lewis Hamilton took maximum points, and was followed home by Mark Webber. Hamilton now sits 41 points ahead of Alonso in the points table and the prospects of a third title for the Spaniard look bleak.

Any hopes of still claiming the title may slip further from Alonso’s grasp tomorrow (Wednesday). The World Motor Sport Council sits in judgement over Ferrari’s team-order debacle in Germany. Many predict that the team will get no more than a slap on the wrist, or another monetary fine. However, the WMSC have the power to deduct points, from the team and the driver, and could even throw Alonso out of the championship race. Such draconian measures are unlikely of course, but if the WMSC wish to deter other teams from similar shenanigans, Alonso’s title chances could take a hit.

Hamilton and McLaren: points leader, Spa winner, Monza's most likely?

Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel will be looking to get their title hopes back on track in Italy after they also endured a difficult weekend in Spa. They will be aware that if they slip much further behind their respective teammates in the standings, they could soon become also-rans in the title race, forced to help Hamilton and Webber respectively to win the title.

Button was relatively comfortable in second place in Spa until Sebastian Vettel accidentally slammed into the side of the McLaren. Both drivers failed to score any points, and Vettel left Spa with much criticism ringing in his ears. He will be seeking a calm, mature victory at the track where he claimed his first ever Formula 1 victory. In 2008, the German took pole position and the win in wet conditions in a Toro Rosso, even before sister team Red Bull had claimed their maiden win.

McLaren expect to perform well at Monza this weekend. The long straights will clearly suit the car with the most effective f-duct, and the Woking-based outfit will be aiming for the largest possible points haul before F1 moves on to Singapore, which is likely to better suit Red Bull’s RB6.

Other teams to watch this weekend include Renault and Force India, who both showed impressive pace at Spa. Robert Kubica would have finished second in Belgium if he hadn’t taken his mind off the job in his final pit stop, and Adrian Sutil, who qualified on the front row here in 2009, will be relishing this visit to Monza after picking up a solid fifth place in Belgium.

Sutil and Force India: Fast at Spa and front row starters last year.

Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello have eight wins at this circuit between them, and five of those victories came in a Ferrari (3 for Schumacher and 2 for Barrichello). Schumacher has little hope of adding to his collection of five Italian GP winner’s trophies this weekend, but it will be interesting to see the reaction of the Tifosi as the seven-time world champion, and Ferrari legend, returns in silver Mercedes livery. Barrichello was first to the checkered flag last year in the eighth and final victory of Brawn GP’s short but ultimately very successful lifetime.

For news of the WMSC’s decision over the team orders incident at Ferrari, and for reports, reaction and analysis of the Italian Grand Prix, check thecheckeredflag.co.uk frequently over the coming week.

Silverstone, like the British fans, has also got something to celebrate this weekend. This time last year, there was a farewell party at the Northamptonshire circuit. The British Grand Prix looked to be heading to Donnington Park and away from what many consider its natural home.

But then the recession happened, and Donnington failed to get the money together to host the race. The British Racing Drivers’ Club, who own the Silverstone circuit, struck a 17-year deal with Bernie Ecclestone to host the race, and secured the long term future of the British Grand Prix. This prompted a new wave of investment which has resulted in a new track layout (more on that later) and a new pit and paddock complex which will be ready for next season.

So there will be a celebratory mood this weekend then around the old airfield. McLaren will be looking for their fourth one-two finish of the season, and the majority of the spectators attending the event will also be hopeful of that result.

Lewis Hamilton, who won this race with a supreme drive in atrocious conditions in 2008, has had the upper hand at McLaren in recent races, coming second in Valencia and winning in Canada and Turkey. If a Brit is going to walk away with 25 points on Sunday, then on current form Hamilton looks the most likely.

Jenson Button has never won his home race. This time last year, he had won six of the last seven races, with Great Britain round eight on the 2009 calendar. But it was Sebastian Vettel who stood atop the podium while Button came home a distant sixth.

Much of the build-up this week has centred on the McLaren duo, which is completely understandable. This does however ignore the fact that they are not necessarily the best equipped to take the victory this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel produced a business-like drive in Valencia to claim his second victory of the season, and the RB6 is thought to suit the high-speed corners of Silverstone better than McLaren’s MP4-25. The German sits third in the driver’s standings, just twelve points off leader Hamilton. A good result this weekend will launch him right back into contention for the 2010 title.

Mark Webber will use a chassis previously driven by Vettel this weekend. Unsurprisingly, the one that gave him wings in Valencia was written off, and he must borrow another from his teammate while Red Bull manufactures him a replacement. The Aussie escaped the massive accident in the last race with nothing more than a few bruises, and will be eager to get back in the car and put his collision with Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus behind him.

Fernando Alonso will also be looking to spoil the British party. He has the potential for a double celebration on Sunday, what with his country contesting the FIFA World Cup final against Holland later in the evening. Like Vettel and Hamilton, the Spaniard also has one British Grand Prix victory on his CV. Rubens Barrichello also won this race in 2003.

Michael Schumacher, of course, has the most Silverstone victories out of the current field. The German has three in total, all behind the wheel of a Ferrari, with the last in 2004. It was also the venue where he broke his leg, forcing him to miss six races of the 1999 championship. Schumacher’s performances have been way below par in the last couple of races, and even claiming his first podium of the season looks an unlikely prospect.

In a surprise move, Hispania have dropped Bruno Senna for this weekend, instead opting for Sakon Yamamoto to drive. At time of writing no reasons have been given, but Colin Kolles is expected to give more details on Friday morning. Yamamoto has competed in fourteen grand prix, driving for Spyker and Super Aguri in 2006 and 2007. The Japanese driver failed to score any points.

Away from the usual intrigue surrounding the drivers and teams in the build up to a race weekend, there is also interest in the track. Silverstone now has a new layout, lengthening the lap by 800 metres and adding about four seconds to last year’s lap time. It is thought that the new arena section, which runs from Abbey to Brooklands, will increase overtaking opportunities while retaining the same high-speed character for which the circuit is famous.

Anthony Davidson, former F1 driver and now BBC Radio 5 Live pundit, is a fan of this new layout. Speaking in The Times today, the ex-Super Aguri driver said the arena section should improve the spectacle for the fans while giving the drivers something else to think about.

“I really like the new Silverstone because it has a technical section that it never had before,” said Davidson. “The circuit is about half-a-mile longer and with more to think about but it is going to be as fast and furious as it ever was with plenty of chances to overtake.”

For those lucky enough to be going this weekend enjoy the fine weather that is forecast and the great racing that should be in store. If you have a General Admission ticket, see if you can get a spot at Copse for qualifying, and cheer the Brits over the line as they grab front row grid slots (or not as the case may be).

Anyone who is unable to make it to Northamptonshire can follow free practice on the BBC Red Button service at 10:00 and 13:00 on Friday and 10:00 on Saturday (all times BST). Qualifying is on BBC One at 13:00 on Saturday (coverage starts at 12:10) and the race is 13:00 on Sunday (coverage again starts at 12:10). Reports and reaction can be found throughout the weekend here on TheCheckeredFlag.co.uk.

But 5000 miles away, a couple of hours before their national football team kicks-off, two Englishmen who rule their sport will take to the track at the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, and current F1 world champion Jenson Button, both driving for an English team (which is leading the Constructor’s Standings), will be taking on rivals from all nations, including a young quick German, a fast, experienced Australian, and a very talented Spaniard.

Hamilton heads to the Spanish street circuit aiming for a hat-trick of consecutive grand prix victories. F1 has only visited Valencia twice before, and Hamilton has finished both races second. The first time, in 2008, he was behind title rival Felipe Massa, and last year it was Rubens Barrichello who prevented his victory.

McLaren have been able to challenge Red Bull on outright pace in the last couple of races, and expect their car to be better suited to the Valencia track than the RB6, as was the case in Montreal. However, in addition to Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber at Red Bull, McLaren will also have to hold off the challenge of the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers, who will both have significant upgrade packages at their disposal in Spain.

Fernando Alonso was disappointed to only finish third in Canada, believing the race win was denied to him by a combination of bad luck and frustrating back-markers. In his second home race of the season, the Spaniard will be eager to claim his second race win of 2010 to reignite his title campaign.

Teammate Felipe Massa effectively has a 100% record around this circuit. He won the inaugural event in 2008, and missed the race last year with his injury in Hungary. The Brazilian’s pace was competitive at times in Canada, but his race was compromised by a first lap altercation with Tonio Liuzzi and an incident with Michael Schumacher later in the race.

Ferrari believe that their car will suit the long straights and tight corners of Valencia, as do Mercedes, who put Schumacher’s disappointing performance in Canada down to car damage and poor tyre choices on their part.

In fact, most teams seem to believe that their car is particularly suited to Valencia. Only Red Bull have publicly acknowledged that fast sweeping circuits like Silverstone represent better chances of victory for them.

Force India got a double points finish in Canada, with Tonio Liuzzi finishing ninth, just ahead of Adrian Sutil. This result was not representative of their true pace as their grand prix turned into a damage limitation exercise with both drivers involved in incidents. They should be using their new switchable rear wing (i.e. f-duct) on Sunday.

Williams will be introducing what they call their ‘blown rear wing’ (i.e. f-duct), as well other aero upgrades. The team have been disappointing this season, and Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head will be hoping that Valencia marks a turning-point in their season.

Of the new teams, Lotus impressed in Canada, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing ahead of Vitaly Petrov in Canada. The Finn was also only two tenths of a second off Kamui Kobayashi in qualifying. There are undoubtedly getting closer to the established teams, while leaving Virgin Racing and Hispania behind. They celebrate 500 races for the Lotus name this weekend, and will surely hope to mark it with another achievement, or at least a double finish.

Virgin have got one good omen to cling onto though. Their driver Timo Glock holds the lap record here. However, that time was set last year while he was driving a considerably more competitive Toyota.

Montreal was regarded as one of the most exciting races of recent times, but be warned: ‘Valencia’ and ‘dull’ have become almost synonymous over the last two seasons. It is a street-circuit, and so overtaking is rare, but surprisingly there has never been a safety car deployed at this venue during a race. Commonly described as ‘Monaco without the glamour’, this venue has provided little excitement for spectators, but in what is becoming a very competitive and intriguing season, there might be some surprises this weekend.

Qualifying begins at 13:00 BST on Saturday, and is live on BBC One for UK viewers. The race begins at 13:00 BST on Sunday, but coverage is on BBC Two because of the football. There will be reports and reaction on this site throughout the weekend. You can also track our live commentary on Twitter by following @TCF_Live.

The ideal Sunday for England fans: A 1-2 finish for Hamilton and Button (in any order), and an encouraging victory over the Germans a few hours later in the football!