FORCDA 2010 Season

[the Masked Lapwing]

2011 Chinese GP
This was the first time Davies had driven at Shanghai in an F1 car, and he didn't get it right at all. 7th was more a fluke than anything, although had he used the options he could probably have been slightly higher. Up front, Alonso set about taking his third straight pole. The new Vettel?
Quali:
1st: F. Alonso
---
7th: R. Davies

Race:
Somewhat uneventful. Alonso became the first DNF of the season because of an engine failure, and Petrov got into an accident with Rosberg. Davies went for a reverse strategy again and it gained him one spot, after several off track excursions at the hairpin and turn 1. Webber took advantage of Alonso's failure and won the race from Massa and Button, quite easily in the end.

1st: M. Webber
2nd: F. Massa
3rd: J. Button (FL)
4th: S. Vettel
5th: L. Hamilton
6th: R. Davies
7th: N. Rosberg
8th: N. Heidfeld
9th: S. Buemi
10th: S. Perez
---
12th: R. Barrichello
---
17th: V. Liuzzi
18th: N. Karthikeyan
19th: J. Trulli
20th: T. Glock
21st*: V. Petrov
22nd: H. Kovalainen
23rd: J. D'Ambrosio
DNF: F. Alonso

Standings:
1st: M. Webber - 61
2nd: J. Button - 55
3rd: F. Massa - 38
4th: F. Alonso - 37
5th: R. Davies - 29
6th: S. Vettel - 20
7th: J. Alguersuari - 12
8th: L. Hamilton - 12
9th: N. Rosberg - 12
10th: S. Perez - 10
11th: V. Petrov - 6
12th: N. Heidfeld - 5
13th: P. di Resta - 4
14th: S. Buemi - 2

1st: Red Bull - 85
2nd: Ferrari - 75
3rd: McLaren - 67
4th: Williams - 29
5th: Toro Rosso - 14
6th: Mercedes - 12
7th: Renault - 11
8th: Sauber - 10
9th: Force India - 4

[Wizzie]

No, Melrose did not just win his 6th Monaco Grand Prix. What gave you that idea? *whistling*

[Klon]

No, Melrose did not just win his 6th Monaco Grand Prix. What gave you that idea? *whistling*

Who cares? Concentrate on winning Canada, that is way more important.

[Wizzie]

No, Melrose did not just win his 6th Monaco Grand Prix. What gave you that idea? *whistling*

Who cares? Concentrate on winning Canada, that is way more important.

Why? Aren't you people already sick of Melrose win... oh, I see what you did there

[Wizzie]

Round 7 - Istanbul

Qualifying:

In the week leading up to the race, critics were slamming Nico Rosberg for being absolutely demolished by his teammate Daniel Melrose since the first race of the year. The critics only got louder when Melrose somehow dragged his Mercedes car onto pole position ahead of Sebastian Bourdais and Lewis Hamilton. Championship Leader Sebastian Vettel found himself relgated to the second row while Rhys Davies and Sammy Jones led the midfield as usual.

Grid:
1. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
2. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
3. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
4. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
5. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
6. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
7. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
8. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
9. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
10. S. Jones (Renault)
11. R. Kubica (Renault)
12. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
13. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
14. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
15. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
16. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
17. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
18. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
20. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

Some strange things were happening behind the rampaging Daniel Melrose who stormed his way into the victory and the lead of the World Championship for the first time since the end of last year. First, it was the two Red Bulls retiring of separate mechanical failures within the space of a lap which promoted Lewis Hamilton into 2nd place and the two Ferraris into podium contention. Next up was Fernando Alonso who was running fourth with a dozen or so laps to go before a rare driver error relegated him to 7th, not that he stayed there for long because Rhys Davies was next with an uncharacteristic error of his own which denied him a potential top 5 finish. There must have been something on the road because next up was Jenson Button whilst running in the inherited 4th place which suddenly meant the under-pressure Nico Rosberg was on track for his equal best result of the year. Not that it lasted long because both he and Heikki Kovalainen got late-race punctures. Unlike Nico, Kovalainen didn't make it back to the pits which meant he lost a points paying position which he desperately needs as Williams start falling behind Renault for the battle for 5th.

This left Phoenix McAllister in a quiet but deserved 3rd place, his first podium since his win in Bahrain with Alonso back into 4th. Rosberg went like a bat out of hell on new tyres at the end, taking fastest lap in the process of catching and nearly passing Button for 5th and 6th while Davies was 7th. Adrian Sutil did a masterful job of holding off the uncharacteristically off-colour Sammy Jones for another 4 vital points for Force India while Dave Simpson got his third points finish in a row in 10th place.

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1h 22m 12.049
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +26.783
3. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +35.089
4. F. Alonso (Ferrari): +48.709
5. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): +55.796
6. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +56.325
7. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): +1:10.354
8. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): +1:21.118
9. S. Jones (Renault): +1:21.346
10. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +1 LAP
11. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
12. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
13. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +1 LAP
14. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): +1 LAP
15. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth): +1 LAP
DNF. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
DNF. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
DNF. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
DNF. R. Kubica (Renault)
DNF. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
DNF. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)

Pole: D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1:22.027
Fastest Lap: N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 1.23.242
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-58 (Total: 58)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 97 points (2 wins, 1 3rd)
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 91 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 2 3rds)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 88 points (3 2nds)
4. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 77 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
5. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 69 points (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 64 points (2 wins)
7. S. Jones (Renault): 61 points (1 win, 1 2nd)
8. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 55 points (1 3rd)
9. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 38 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 34 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
11. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 13 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
12. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 8 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
13. R. Kubica (Renault): 6 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
14. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 3 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
15. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
16. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 1 point (Best Result: 1 10th)

Constructors:

1. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 165 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
2. Red Bull Racing Renault: 155 points (3 wins, 2 2nds, 2 3rds)
3. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 136 points (2 wins, 1 3rd)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 124 points (1 2nd, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 67 points (1 win, 1 2nd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 37 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 14 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 10 points (Best Result: 1 7th)

Next up is the return of the fan-favourite Canadian Grand Prix

[Wizzie]

Race results for Turkey now up

[Wizzie]

Round 8 - Canada

Qualifying:

The entire field knew they were in trouble by the end of Saturday afternoon when Daniel Melrose did a sub-1:16 while everyone else was stranded in the 17s, simply because he could. The Red Bulls and McLarens were the closest to the reigning champ while Nathan McKane was the best of the midfield in 9th place. The two Saubers were surprisingly slow in 17th and 18th with Dave Simpson ahead of Kamui Kobayashi while it was literally business as usual at the back of the field.

Grid:
1. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
3. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
4. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
5. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
7. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
8. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
9. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
10. S. Jones (Renault)
11. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
12. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
13. R. Kubica (Renault)
14. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
15. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
16. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
17. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
18. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
20. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

On any given day, there are very few people that can match the defending champ Daniel Melrose. On Melrose's good days however, nobody can come even remotely close to holding a candle to him. Period. Here in F1's return to North America, Melrose was simply peerless around his virtual personal playground as he was over a minute clear of the field by the end of it to take his 6th Canadian Grand Prix win. The two Red Bulls and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren were the only cars on the lead lap while Nathan McKane was denied 9th place when a puncture forced him in for a late pit-stop. This led to an entertaining battle between the two Force Indias for the final two points positions as McKane on fresher tyres was desperately looking for an opportunity to pass teammate Adrian Sutil which never came.

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1h 31m 18.773
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): +1:02.209
3. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): +1:07.742
4. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:17.156
5. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): +1 LAP
6. F. Alonso (Ferrari): +1 LAP
7. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +1 LAP
8. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +1 LAP
9. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): +1 LAP
10. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): +1 LAP
11. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
12. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
13. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
14. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
15. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth): +3 LAPS
16. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): +3 LAPS
DNF. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
DNF. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
DNF. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. S. Jones (Renault)
DNF. R. Kubica (Renault)
DNF. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)

Pole: D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1:15.873
Fastest Lap: D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1.17.058
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-70 (Total: 70)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 122 points (3 wins, 1 3rd)
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 109 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 2 3rds)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 96 points (3 2nds)
4. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 83 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
5. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 81 points (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 79 points (2 wins, 1 3rd)
7. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 65 points (1 3rd)
8. S. Jones (Renault): 61 points (1 win, 1 2nd)
9. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 42 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 34 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
11. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 15 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
12. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 8 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
13. R. Kubica (Renault): 6 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
14. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 3 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
15. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
16. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 2 points (Best Result: 2 10ths)

Constructors:

1. Red Bull Racing Renault: 188 points (3 wins, 3 2nds, 3 3rds)
2. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 179 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 165 points (3 wins, 1 3rd)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 146 points (1 2nd, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 67 points (1 win, 1 2nd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 37 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 17 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 10 points (Best Result: 1 7th)

Next up is the European Grand Prix at the Valencia Street Circuit.

[Wizzie]

Another race, another dominant Melrose victory.

[the Masked Lapwing]

I think you turned the difficulty down again

[Wizzie]

I think you turned the difficulty down again

No, Monaco's always a cakewalk and I suddenly found a sweet spot when it came to setting up the Mercedes car to, you know, work

Expect normal service to resume in the next two races though as the car was a dog at the Silverstone test and Valencia + any sort of understeer whatsoever = Hell on Earth.

[the Masked Lapwing]

2011 Turkish Grand Prix
Like the previous race, Davies struggled to get used to the track early on, but by qualifying, he'd set some pretty good times.

Quali:
1st: F. Alonso
---
6th: R. Davies

Alonso takes pole #4 of the season from 4 races, while Davies manages 6th after a few spins on flyers.

Race:
Having set his time on options, Davies used a more conventional strategy. Solid early pace disappeared when he switched to primes, and he fell from a podium spot to fifth. Button won his second race of the season, passing Alonso in the dying stages, with Hamilton third. Nico Rosberg raced well to take fourth. A poor race all around from Red Bell, with Webber sacrificing his championship lead (and still beating Vettel!)

1st: J. Button
2nd: F. Alonso
3rd: L. Hamilton
4th: N. Rosberg
5th: R. Davies
6th: F. Massa
7th: M. Webber
8th: S. Vettel
9th: M. Schumacher
10th: N. Heidfeld
11th: V. Petrov (FL)
---
18th: R. Barrichello
19th: N. Karthikeyan
20th: T. Glock
21st: J. Trulli
22nd: V. Liuzzi
23rd: H. Kovalainen
24th: J. D'Ambrosio

Standings:
1st: J. Button - 80
2nd: M. Webber - 67
3rd: F. Alonso - 55
4th: F. Massa - 46
5th: R. Davies - 39
6th: L. Hamilton - 27
7th: S. Vettel - 24
8th: N. Rosberg - 24
9th: J. Alguersuari - 12
10th: S. Perez - 10
11th: V. Petrov - 6
12th: N. Heidfeld - 6
13th: P. di Resta - 4
14th: M. Schumacher - 2
15th: S. Buemi - 2

1st: McLaren - 107
2nd: Ferrari - 101
3rd: Red Bull - 95
4th: Williams - 39
5th: Mercedes - 26
6th: Toro Rosso - 14
7th: Renault - 12
8th: Sauber - 10
9th: Force India - 4

[the Masked Lapwing]

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

Qualifying:
Finally, someone who wasn't Alonso took pole position! Quali was the first wet session of the year, with heavy rain coming down. The firstlaps were done on inters, which meant everyone who got out early got the best spots, while everyone who waited had to do runs on wets on an absoltuely soaked track. Hamilton ended up with the pole, with Vitaly Petrov a brilliant second and Davies third.

1st: L. Hamilton
2nd: V. Petrov
3rd: R. Davies
4th: M. Webber


Race:
Free to start on a fresh set of options, Davies got a good start, and led until the stops. On the first lap Hamilton and Webber collided into turn 4, putting Hamilton well out of the running. Davies led until the stops, where he got jumped by Button and Webber. A brilliant battle over the final laps saw Davies pass Button at turn 1, and trade the lead with Webber. Ultimately, the Red Bull came out on top. Davies took second, continuing his form of almost-but-not-quite performances at Catalunya.

1st: M. Webber
2nd: R. Davies
3rd: J. Button
4th: F. Alonso
5th: S. Vettel
6th: V. Petrov
7th: F. Massa
8th: M. Schumacher
9th: S. Perez
10th: J. Alguersuari
---
14th: R. Barrichello
---
17th: V. Liuzzi
18th: T. Glock
19th: H. Kovalainen
20th: J. D'Ambrosio
21st: N. Karthikeyan
22nd: J. Trulli
DNF: N. Heidfeld
DNF: P. di Resta

Standings:
1st: J. Button - 95
2nd: M. Webber - 92
3rd: F. Alonso - 67
4th: R. Davies - 57
5th: F. Massa - 52
6th: S. Vettel - 34
7th: L. Hamilton - 27
8th: N. Rosberg - 24
9th: V. Petrov - 14
10th: J. Alguersuari - 13
11th: S. Perez - 12
12th: M. Schumacher - 6
13th: N. Heidfeld - 6
14th: P. di Resta - 4
15th: S. Buemi - 2

1st: Red Bull - 130
2nd: McLaren - 122
3rd: Ferrari - 119
4th: Williams - 57
5th: Mercedes - 30
6th: Renault - 20
7th: Toro Rosso - 15
8th: Sauber - 12
9th: Force India - 4

[Wizzie]

Round 9 - Europe

Qualifying:

The championship leader showed up to the Valencia circuit with a car that simply wouldn't work no matter what he tried in practice. By the end of qualifying however, he managed to haul his hateful Mercedes into the top 10 by the skin of his teeth. The Red Bulls were reveling in the situation up front with Seb Vettel taking pole from Seb Bourdais. Lewis Hamilton continued his recent good form with 3rd while Rhys Davies nearly compounded Mercedes' misery by coming within a hundredth of a second of beating the under pressure Nico Rosberg in the sister Mercedes for 7th on the grid.

Grid:
1. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
2. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
3. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
4. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
5. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
7. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
8. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
9. S. Jones (Renault)
10. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
11. R. Kubica (Renault)
12. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
13. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
14. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
15. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
16. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
17. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
18. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
20. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

With the Melrose express making an unexpected return to the Valencia circuit, the points positions were decided solely on how long one spent behind the defensive World Champ. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton managed to keep ahead of the fast-starting Australian on the first lap and went on to finish first and second quite easily, which meant the German reclaimed the lead of the championship from Melrose. Sebastian Bourdais and Fernando Alonso both got by at the first stops and proceeded to bolt from Melrose at well over a second a lap as he struggled in his hateful Mercedes. Eventually, teammate Nico Rosberg and Phoenix McAllister in the second Ferrari got past as well which relegated him to a lowly 7th, just ahead of Jenson Button and Sammy Jones. In other news, while Timo Glock may have finished well down the order, rumours are starting to float around that the German may find himself in the Mercedes work team from 2011 onwards, either as a replacement for or the teammate to Melrose depending on what the Australian does at the end of the year.

1. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 1h 31m 58.187
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +23.021
3. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): +26.819
4. F. Alonso (Ferrari): +45.546
5. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +1:08.118
6. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +1:08.838
7. D. Melrose (Mercedes): +1:19.455
8. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:21.519
9. S. Jones (Renault): +1:22.509
10. R. Kubica (Renault): +1:35.863
11. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): +1 LAP
12. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
13. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): +1 LAP
14. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +1 LAP
15. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +1 LAP
16. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): +1 LAP
17. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
18. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
DNF. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
DNF. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
DNF. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)

Pole: S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 1:34.726
Fastest Lap: S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 1.35.192
Leaders: S. Vettel: 1-57 (Total: 57)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 134 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 2 3rds)
2. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 128 points (3 wins, 1 3rd)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 108 points (3 2nds)
4. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 99 points (2 2nds, 2 3rds)
5. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 94 points (2 wins, 2 3rds)
6. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 91 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
7. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 69 points (1 3rd)
8. S. Jones (Renault): 63 points (1 win, 1 2nd)
9. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 52 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 34 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
11. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 15 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
12. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 8 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
13. R. Kubica (Renault): 7 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
14. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 3 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
15. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
16. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 2 points (Best Result: 2 10ths)

Constructors:

1. Red Bull Racing Renault: 228 points (4 wins, 3 2nds, 4 3rds)
2. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 199 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 181 points (3 wins, 1 3rd)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 168 points (2 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 70 points (1 win, 1 2nd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 37 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 17 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 10 points (Best Result: 1 7th)

Next up is the British Grand Prix at the revamped Silverstone circuit

[Wizzie]

Round 10 - Great Britain

Qualifying:

Sebastien Bourdais managed to bring his faltering championship challenge back on track with pole position on a typical British grey and dreary day. Not that anyone else in the known universe gave a shite as all eyes were on what transpired behind him. To put it simply, three of the four convicts on the grid were reveling in the monsoonal conditions. Typically, however, none of them was the eternally luckless Dave Simpson as he splashed his way to a lowly 18th on the grid. Out of his countrymen, Mark Webber did a jaw-droppingly epic job in the Hispania to haul it to an incredible 2nd on the grid ahead of compatriots Daniel Melrose and Rhys Davies after both put up some incredible last-minute flyers. Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg locked out row three with local heros Sammy Jones and Lewis Hamilton in 7th and 8th.

Grid:
1. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
2. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
3. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
4. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
5. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
6. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
7. S. Jones (Renault)
8. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
9. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
10. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
11. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
12. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
13. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
14. R. Kubica (Renault)
15. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
16. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
17. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
18. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
19. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
20. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

Incredible didn't even come close to describing what transpired at the Silverstone Airfield for the 2010 British Grand Prix. The first cab off the rank to experience trouble was, unsurprisingly, Mark Webber as he got passed by the lightning quick Daniel Melrose off the start before being gobbled up as top runner after top runner until his eventual mechanical-induced retirement. Melrose's start was so quick that he nearly got past pole sitter Sebastien Bourdais at the start as well. Not that it mattered much as the Champ was simply content with sitting behind the Frenchmen for the first few laps before passing him into Stowe on lap 4.

By that point, Dave Simpson's miserable weekend had already come to a fiery end with a spectacular engine failure and Bruno Senna had found the wall at Becketts. Next up on the chopping block however were two big-names in Rhys Davies and Jenson Button. You see, in hindsight, Davies was probably on track for a podium with the way the race unfolded but Button had other ideas when he tried to capitalise on a rare error from the Australian. Problem was Button tried going around the outside of the former champ through Chapel which ended with two bent Formula 1 cars and the most pissed-off Australian you'll ever see.

Within 15 minutes of that, Nico Rosberg had spun his way to the back of the field, Sebastian Bourdais' suspension had collapsed and Timo Glock followed his teammate's example and wrote off his Lotus Manor car as well. Suddenly, Melrose found himself with a dozen second lead over Sebastian Vettel and nearly had a pitstop over the rest of the field which should have been game, set and match to the Australian despite planning to make one more stop than everyone else. Should being the operative word because as it turned out, Melrose ended up rejoining behind the squabble for the final podium spot between Fernando Alonso, Sammy Jones and Lewis Hamilton, who were all passed by Melrose within a few laps with relative ease with some top-class moves from the champ.

Melrose then also caught and passed Vettel on the run to Copse and started to bolt from the field at well over a second a lap. Nathan McKane was up into the points by that point after teammate Adrian Sutil and Jaime Alguersuari both had problems of their own until the Scotsman found the wall at Luffield, ending his afternoon. Attrition then claimed a big scalp in Sebastian Vettel as a wheel made a bid for freedom just seconds after inheriting the lead after Melrose's second stop. Melrose now had a 10 second lead from Jones, Hamilton and Alonso and looked set to take back the championship lead.

And then, his Mercedes developed a gear-selection problem. Whilst the third and unscheduled pitstop meant he could make it to the finish, he now had just 9 laps to make up the 10 or so second deficit to the leading trio. His response was 9 of the highest-quality laps the world has ever seen as he used his new tyres to blow Phoenix McAllister's then fastest lap to smithereens and started to catch the leading trio at well over a second a lap before being right on the tail of them with three laps to go.

First up was Fernando Alonso who was simply muscled out of the way in the Arena section of the track before Melrose beat Hamilton the latest of the late brakers game into Vale the next time round. Finally, he had Sammy Jones in his sight who was looking set to take his second win of the season and his first ever win at home after over a decade of trying for some of the best teams in the business. It wasn't meant to be however as Melrose went for the gap between the Englishman and the pit wall heading down the pit straight before pulling off his 8th, and certainly his best, overtaking maneuver of the race to take the lead at Copse on the final lap of the race, a lead the Australian never relinquished.

Jones eventually lost 2nd to Hamilton as well after he got held up by Adrian Rees in his lesser-spotted Hispania while Alonso finished 4th, less than half a second behind the Renault. McAllister finished a lonely 5th while Robert Kubica put in his best performance of the year to finish 6th ahead of Rosberg, Kamui Kobayashi, Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen.

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1h 24m 41.781
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +3.957
3. S. Jones (Renault): +4.613
4. F. Alonso (Ferrari): +5.074
5. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +28.721
6. R. Kubica (Renault): +36.604
7. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +45.897
8. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +1:21.792
9. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): +1:29.769
10. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): +1:29.841
11. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
12. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
DNF. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
DNF. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
DNF. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
DNF. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
DNF. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
DNF. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
DNF. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
DNF. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
DNF. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)

Pole: S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 1:51.839
Fastest Lap: D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1.34.383
Leaders: S. Bourdais: 1-3 (Total: 3)
D. Melrose: 4-18, 24-43, 52 (Total: 36)
S. Vettel: 19-23 (Total: 5)
S. Jones: 44-51 (Total: 8)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 153 points (4 wins, 1 3rd)
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 134 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 2 3rds)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 120 points (3 2nds)
4. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 117 points (3 2nds, 2 3rds)
5. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 101 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
6. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 94 points (2 wins, 2 3rds)
7. S. Jones (Renault): 78 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
8. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 69 points (1 3rd)
9. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 58 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 34 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
11. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 17 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
12. R. Kubica (Renault): 15 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
13. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 8 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
14. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 6 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
15. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 4 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
16. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 2 points (Best Result: 2 10ths)

Constructors:

1. Red Bull Racing Renault: 228 points (4 wins, 3 2nds, 4 3rds)
2. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 221 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 212 points (4 wins, 1 3rd)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 186 points (3 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 93 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 38 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 19 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 14 points (Best Result: 1 7th)

Next up is the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheim Circuit

[the Masked Lapwing]

Davies fourth at Silverstone? Yep, the realism is brilliant

[Wizzie]

Race results now up

[the Masked Lapwing]

Spoiler Alert: During the 2011 British GP, I hit Button no less than 3 times. Now I have an excuse

[Wizzie]

And it's time for a big announcement.

First of all Sammy, out of all the people I've raced over the years, you're probably one of about three guys, alongside Dave (Simpson) and Rhys (Davies), that I respect the most both on and off the track and it's truly been an honour racing against you all these years so I hope you don't take it personally about what happened on the track today. I mean, I'd be absolutely beside myself if that happened to me so I understand if you're furious at losing your best shot at winning your home Grand Prix.

Now, I could go on with a long well-written out speech but I'll try to keep it short and sweet. All I really want to say is thank you. Thank you to Jeroen (Krautmeir), Luca (di Montezemelo), Stoddy, Mario (Theisson) and Ross (Brawn) for giving me the chance to fulfill my dream of racing in Formula One. Thank you to Chris (Dagnall), Jack (Christopherson), and a whole host of other drivers that have driven in the past and put their lives on the line to be an inspiration for me and many other drivers on the grid. Thank you to all the guys in the factories and the garage who work behind the scenes and often don't get the credit they so thoroughly deserve. And finally, thank you to all the fans out there because what we do on track is for you guys. Because after Abu Dhabi, I'll be moving on to a new chapter in my career in the F1RWRS in search of a new challenge. Again, thank you to all, and to all, goodnight.

Yeap, you heard right. 2010 will be Melrose's swansong year in Formula One.

[Wizzie]

Round 11 - Germany

Qualifying:

Even though Daniel Melrose announced his Formula One retirement two weeks ago, he's still as highly motivated as ever to score a historic fifth world championship win. However, the Australian had his work cut out for him with only 7th on the grid in a Mercedes that was handling well but was just slow. The grid at Hockenheim was strangely hierarchical with the Red Bulls locking out row one, Ferrari on row two, McLaren on row three, Mercedes on row four, the three upper-midfield teams covering 9th-14th, Sauber and Toro Rosso behind them and the new teams bringing up the rear.

Grid:
1. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
2. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
4. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
5. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
7. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
8. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
9. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
10. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
11. S. Jones (Renault)
12. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
13. R. Kubica (Renault)
14. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
15. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
16. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
17. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
18. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
20. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

With less than 10 laps to go in the Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel was on track for his third win of the year and cutting the deficit in the championship to leader Daniel Melrose from 19 points to just 2. Bridgestone were well on their way to Reject of the Race with tyres designed to last a nuclear war to the point where they didn't wear out anywhere near as much as the champ wanted to truly make the two-stopper work (The only reason he could make something out of it to start off with was his brilliant start) yet rubbish enough to cause 5 race ending punctures whose victims included the former champ Rhys Davies, Adrian Sutil and both Hispanias.

And then, with 5 laps to go, the German threw it away at turn 1 with an embarrassing spin at turn 1 whilst on track for the win. This promoted Fernando Alonso into the lead with Sebastian Bourdais catching him at a vast rate of knots. Vettel rejoined in third but the damage to his championship chances had been done. Melrose had compounded that misery by passing Jenson Button for 5th a few laps before that. Despite the pressure piled on from Bourdais, Alonso held on to win by less than a second. Vettel came home in third from Lewis Hamilton, Melrose, Button, Phoenix McAllister and Nico Rosberg, who came within a lap of robbing the Spaniad for 7th place. With Sutil and Davies have their problems and Renault being strangely slow, Nathan McKane took his best career result thus far in 9th while Heikki Kovalainen took home the final point.

1. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 1h 31m 23.847
2. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): +0.793
3. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): +9.912
4. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +17.243
5. D. Melrose (Mercedes): +23.270
6. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): +25.942
7. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +34.629
8. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +34.788
9. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): +1:18.484
10. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): +1 LAP
11. S. Jones (Renault): +1 LAP
12. R. Kubica (Renault): +1 LAP
13. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +1 LAP
14. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
15. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
16. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): +1 LAP
17. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
DNF. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
DNF. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
DNF. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)

Pole: S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 1:18.740
Fastest Lap: S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 1.20.640
Leaders: S. Vettel: 1-35, 39-62 (Total: 59)
S. Bourdais: 36-38 (Total: 3)
F. Alonso: 63-67 (Total: 5)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 163 points (4 wins, 1 3rd)
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 149 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 3 3rds)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 145 points (1 win, 3 2nds)
4. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 129 points (3 2nds, 2 3rds)
5. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 112 points (2 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 107 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
7. S. Jones (Renault): 78 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
8. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 77 points (1 3rd)
9. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 62 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 34 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
11. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 17 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
12. R. Kubica (Renault): 15 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
13. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 8 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
14. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 6 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
15. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 5 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
16. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 4 points (Best Result: 1 9th)

Constructors:

1. Red Bull Racing Renault: 261 points (4 wins, 4 2nds, 5 3rds)
2. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 252 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 226 points (4 wins, 1 3rd)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 206 points (3 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 93 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 39 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 21 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 14 points (Best Result: 1 7th)

Next up is the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Budapest circuit.

[Wizzie]

Round 12 - Hungary

Qualifying:

Give Daniel Melrose a car that works and he'll drag it kicking and screaming all the way to pole position. Mercedes gave the champ a car that worked around the Hungaroring circuit and that was exactly what happened as he ended the session just under 4 tenths ahead of the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais. Behind them, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso set the exact same time to the thousandth but the Englishman got the jump on the Spaniard as he set his fastest time first. Like at Monaco, the Renault duo were again competitive with Sammy Jones in 7th ahead of Phoenix McAllister and Robert Kubica beating Nico Rosberg to 10th on the grid.

Grid:
1. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
3. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
4. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
5. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
6. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
7. S. Jones (Renault)
8. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
9. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
10. R. Kubica (Renault)
11. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
12. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
13. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
14. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
15. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
16. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
17. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
18. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
20. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

The tone of the afternoon was set in concrete by the end of turn 1 with Melrose getting an incredible getaway from Vettel with Hamilton jumping the other Red Bull of Bourdais. Behind them, the midfield runners were too busy trying to get around the slow starting Heikki Kovalainen, which predictably ended up with a massive pileup triggered by the Lotus of Timo Glock. The ensuring melee eliminated Kovy and the ever luckless Dave Simpson while both Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Buemi had to pit for some running repairs.

With Melrose skipping away to what looked increasingly like another relatively easy win on a two-stop strategy which worked to perfection as higher than expected tyre wear plagued the rest of the field, the chaos just kept going with Phoenix McAllister and Lewis Hamilton finding each other on the track. The resulting impact put both of their races to an early end. Next up was the other Ferrari of Fernando Alonso who found a wall around the back of the circuit which forced him in for a new front wing. This meant that he suddenly found himself on a variation of the same strategy that Melrose was but with a bucketload of time to find.

Not that Jenson Button cared that much as his race ended in a similar fashion to his teammate's with a collision with Rhys Davies for the second time this year. Luckily for the Australian however, he only needed a front wing transplant and, as an even bigger stroke of luck, found himself with superior track position to Alonso and on a better variation of the two-stopper to boot. The next top runner to fall was Sebastian Vettel when a wheel tried to make a bid for freedom from his Red Bull. Unlike Davies and Alonso however, Red Bull kept Vettel on the one-stopper and as a result filled him up until the end. This later proved to be a huge mistake as the race unfolded.

Red Bull's misery was then compounded when after his first pit stop, Melrose took out his growing frustration of spending the last 10 minutes trying to navigate some unhelpful traffic on his teammate Nico Rosberg and Bourdais, both of whom were already struggling on their tyres with their only stops still a number of laps away. Melrose had some resistance from his teammate but made a clean move stick on the German. However, Bourdais tried to fight the inevitable when Melrose dived down the inside at turn 11. Predictably, it didn't end well for the Frenchman as he became the latest front-runner to retire from the race.

All of a sudden, Rosberg and Sammy Jones found themselves on the podium with the likes of Nathan McKane, Kamui Kobayashi and Robert Kubica battling just outside the dias. The rampaging Melrose up front then had a massive scare as the gear selection problem from Silverstone returned with a vengeance. Unlike Silverstone however, he didn't have to limp for an entire lap with the problem which meant he didn't lose too much time. An unscheduled pitstop for a new steering wheel later and Melrose was soon back to demolishing the field on the timesheets on fresh tyres with his improvised three-stopper.

Jones eventually found a way past Rosberg for 2nd with Davies using his own improvised two-stopper to maximum effect to leapfrog the entirety of what was left of the midfield into 4th with Alonso making similar progress into 6th. Nathan McKane should have been well in the fight with the Spaniard but some torrid luck with traffic, especially a costly collision with the particularly unhelpful Bruno Senna, meant he was down to 7th from what should have been a fairly comfortable 5th. Melrose himself had done a good job to miss the melee as he was the first car at the scene.

As the race came ever closer to the finish, Rhys Davies started marching forward towards Jones and Rosberg as he started to smell a podium on the cards. Davies eventually caught and passed Rosberg for third with a few laps to go to score his first podium since his Formula One return. Sebastian Vettel was also on the move, in the opposite direction as his tyres were going off at such a rate that he was 2-3 seconds off the pace of the guys immediately around him, and a whopping 5 seconds a lap off the pace of the leader which meant that in the closing stages, he had Kobayashi crawling all over the back of him. The Sauber soon found a way past as the pair were being lapped by Daniel Melrose for the 2nd time that afternoon. Toro Rosso stablemate Jaime Alguersuari had kept out of all the trouble and found himself in a well deserved 10th with a few laps to go. However, he had much bigger fish to fry as he soon caught Vettel as well and blasted past when Sammy Jones came up to lap the pair of them right at the death.

In the end, Melrose was virtually unchallenged to the win from Sammy Jones and Rhys Davies. Nico Rosberg scored his equal best result of the year in 4th while Robert Kubica put in his best race in almost 2 years in the second Renault ahead of Fernando Alonso. In terms of the championship, Melrose finds himself with more than a race win's lead over Alonso and Vettel while at the same times, removing Bourdais, Hamilton and McAllister from realistic contention as the trio are now more than two wins away.

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1h 39m 37.307
2. S. Jones (Renault): +1 LAP
3. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): +1 LAP
4. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +1 LAP
5. R. Kubica (Renault): +1 LAP
6. F. Alonso (Ferrari): +1 LAP
7. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): +2 LAPS
8. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
9. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
10. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): +2 LAPS
11. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): +2 LAPS
12. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): +2 LAPS
13. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): +3 LAPS
14. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth): +4 LAPS
DNF. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
DNF. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
DNF. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
DNF. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
DNF. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
DNF. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
DNF. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)

Pole: D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1:22.430
Fastest Lap: D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1.23.163
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-30, 32-70 (Total: 69)
N. Rosberg: 31 (Total: 1)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 188 points (5 wins, 1 3rd)
2. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 153 points (1 win, 3 2nds)
3. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 150 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 3 3rds)
4. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 129 points (3 2nds, 2 3rds)
5. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 112 points (2 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 107 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
7. S. Jones (Renault): 96 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
8. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 77 points (1 3rd)
9. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 74 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 49 points (1 3rd)
11. R. Kubica (Renault): 25 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
12. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 17 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
13. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 10 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
14. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 10 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
15. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 8 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
16. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 5 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
17. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)

Constructors:

1. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 263 points (5 wins, 1 3rd)
2. Red Bull Racing Renault: 262 points (4 wins, 4 2nds, 5 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 260 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 206 points (3 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 121 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 54 points (1 3rd)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 27 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 18 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)

Next up is the Belgian Grand Prix at the world famous Spa Francorchamps Circuit.

[Wizzie]

And yes, that was the third time this year that Davies and Button have collided

[JeremyMcClean]

Bloody heck, look at the constructors' title!

[Wizzie]

Round 13 - Belgium

Qualifying:

Frustrated didn't even come close to describing the mood that Daniel Melrose was in after his Mercedes returned to its hateful characteristics of being relatively balanced yet downright slow. 7th and 8th were the best the two Mercedes drivers could do but both were well over a second away from the Red Bulls on pole. Annoyingly for Red Bull however, it was Sebastien Bourdais taking the pole from Sebastian Vettel. Nathan McKane did a good job to put his car into the top 10 just behind three time champ Rhys Davies and to comprehensively beat teammate Adrian Sutil in the process.

Grid:
1. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
2. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
4. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
5. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
7. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
8. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
9. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
10. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
11. S. Jones (Renault)
12. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
13. R. Kubica (Renault)
14. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
15. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
16. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
17. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
18. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
20. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

Sebastian Bourdais led early but it was Daniel Melrose stealing the headlines yet again with another fantastic start. It was Melrose's start which effectively ruined Sebastian Vettel's afternoon as in an instant, he went from 2nd to 6th behind Melrose, both Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton's McLarens. Vettel soon made his way back past before the two McLarens removed themselves (Read: Each Other) from podium contention before Melrose checkmated himself out of the win equation when his two-stop strategy stopped working after about 30 laps. In the end, a potential 4 horse race for the win between Red Bull and Ferrari came to naught when the Ferraris and Vettel came out behind the increasingly struggling Melrose.

Bourdais therefore cruised to an easy win with Phoenix McAllister being the only one of the trio behind Melrose to make his way past the defending champion with a forceful move into the Busstop Chicane into a well deserved 2nd place. Melrose then held on for dear life ahead of his immediate title rivals who then decided to hit each other with three laps to go. Vettel was out on the spot while Alonso pitted for a new front wing and rejoined in 8th. Melrose held on to score what was, in the end, a fortunate third while fourth place was inherited by an absolutely jubilant and well-deserving Dave Simpson in the BMW Sauber. Jenson Button managed to scrape his way back to fifth ahead of Rhys Davies who just held on to 6th ahead of Nico Rosberg in the sister Mercedes with the furious Alonso in 8th. Sammy Jones scored two more points in 9th with Lewis Hamilton in the second McLaren rounding out the points in 10th.

1. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 1h 22m 49.708
2. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +18.537
3. D. Melrose (Mercedes): +35.336
4. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +1:01.922
5. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:04.958
6. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): +1:07.210
7. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +1:07.396
8. F. Alonso (Ferrari): +1:17.330
9. S. Jones (Renault): +1:22.783
10. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:22.989
11. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): +1:29.284
12. R. Kubica (Renault): +1:29.967
13. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): +1:51.649
14. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): +1 LAP
15. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): +1 LAP
16. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
17. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): +1 LAP
18. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
19. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): +3 LAPS*
20. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +5 LAPS
DNF. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
DNF. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)

Pole: S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 1:48.707
Fastest Lap: F. Alonso (Ferrari): 1:49.172
Leaders: S. Bourdais: 1-3, 15-44 (Total: 33)
D. Melrose: 4-14 (Total: 11)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 203 points (5 wins, 2 3rds)
2. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 157 points (1 win, 3 2nds)
3. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 150 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 3 3rds)
4. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 137 points (3 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
5. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 130 points (3 2nds, 2 3rds)
6. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 125 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 1 3rd)
7. S. Jones (Renault): 98 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
8. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 87 points (1 3rd)
9. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 80 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 57 points (1 3rd)
11. R. Kubica (Renault): 25 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
12. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 20 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
13. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 17 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
14. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 10 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
15. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 10 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
16. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 5 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
17. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)

Constructors:

1. Red Bull Racing Renault: 287 points (5 wins, 4 2nds, 5 3rds)
2. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 284 points (5 wins, 2 3rds)
3. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 282 points (2 wins, 4 2nds, 1 3rd)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 217 points (3 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 123 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 62 points (1 3rd)
7. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 30 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
8. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 27 points (Best Result: 1 7th)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)

With Melrose's dream for a historic 5th world title looking increasingly likely, the circus now moves on to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.

[the Masked Lapwing]

2011 Monaco Grand Prix

Qualifying:
Rhys Davies is a driver known for being a brilliant driver. At Monaco, he's something else. Many still consider his drive from 22nd to victory for Benetton in 1999 to be the greatest of all time. Which is why no one could figure why he could only qualify 20th. And that was before his 5 spot grid penalty for blocking Sebastian Vettel in practice ( ). Vettel also missed the top 10, while his teammate Mark Webber took pole position.

1st: M. Webber
---
11th: S. Vettel
---
20th: R. Davies

Race:
Lining up 24th and behind the two HRTs, Davies made a good jump to be 18th by the time they reached the hairpin, behind Heikki Kovalainen. As they raced through the tunnel, Davies got alongside, and that's where things went pear-shaped. As they broke for the chicane, they came together, with Davies going straight ahead and into Buemi, and all three retired from the race. For Davies, it was his worst showing at Monaco ever, and he refused to speak to the media afterwards. Up ahead, Webber wound up fourth, while Felipe Massa took a surprising win ahead of Hamilton and Vettel, who had a brilliant run.

1st: F. Massa
2nd: L. Hamilton (FL)
3rd: S. Vettel
4th: M. Webber
5th: J. Button
6th: F. Alonso
7th: N. Rosberg
8th: N. Heidfeld
9th: M. Schumacher
10th: V. Petrov
---
16th: R. Barrichello
17th: J. Trulli
18th: J. D'Ambrosio
19th: T. Glock
20th: N. Karthikeyan
21st: V. Liuzzi
DNF: S. Buemi
DNF: R. Davies
DNF: H. Kovalainen

Standings:
1st: J. Button - 105
2nd: M. Webber - 104
3rd: F. Massa - 77
4th: F. Alonso - 75
5th: R. Davies - 57
6th: S. Vettel - 49
7th: L. Hamilton - 45
8th: N. Rosberg - 30
9th: V. Petrov - 15
10th: J. Alguersuari - 13
11th: S. Perez - 12
12th: N. Heidfeld - 10
13th: M. Schumacher - 8
14th: P. di Resta - 4
15th: S. Buemi - 2

1st: Red Bull - 157
3rd: Ferrari - 152
2nd: McLaren - 150
4th: Williams - 57
5th: Mercedes - 38
6th: Renault - 25
7th: Toro Rosso - 15
8th: Sauber - 12
9th: Force India - 4

[Wizzie]

Up ahead, Webber wound up fourth, while Felipe Massa took a surprising win ahead of Hamilton and Vettel, who had a brilliant run.

No, Phoenix McAllister won the 2011 Monaco GP. Since you're too lazy and/or unwilling to change it, I abused my creative authority and too matters into my own hands (See his wiki page for more details )

[the Masked Lapwing]

Up ahead, Webber wound up fourth, while Felipe Massa took a surprising win ahead of Hamilton and Vettel, who had a brilliant run.

No, Phoenix McAllister won the 2011 Monaco GP. Since you're too lazy and/or unwilling to change it, I abused my creative authority and too matters into my own hands (See his wiki page for more details )

I am both too lazy and unwilling to change it. You can have McAllister win in your universe, but as far as I'm concerned, Felipe all the way!

[Wizzie]

Up ahead, Webber wound up fourth, while Felipe Massa took a surprising win ahead of Hamilton and Vettel, who had a brilliant run.

No, Phoenix McAllister won the 2011 Monaco GP. Since you're too lazy and/or unwilling to change it, I abused my creative authority and too matters into my own hands (See his wiki page for more details )

I am both too lazy and unwilling to change it. You can have McAllister win in your universe, but as far as I'm concerned, Felipe all the way!

And indeed he will

[the Masked Lapwing]

2011 Canadian Grand Prix

Qualifying:
Since his career started, Davies has been known for being simply brilliant at Montreal - over one lap. Make that a race distance, and it all goes down the drain. Wet weather hit late during quali, and Davies took advantage to start from the front row alongside Fernando Alonso. The big surprise of qualifying though was the second row, with Sergio Perez putting in a sublime lap for third and Jaimes Alguersuari taking P4.

1st: F. Alonso
2nd: R. Davies
3rd: S. Perez
4th: J. Alguersuari

Race:
Again, Davies was average at best in race trim at Montreal, and he managed to hold his position at the start. That became third when the fast starting Felipe Massa charged from 6th place. He gained a spot again just before the pit stops when Alonso lost control at the exit of the hairpin and retired. By that point, he had been way out in the lead, with Massa way ahead of Davies. Shortly after the pitstops, Massa, now 10 seconds up the road from Davies and on teh way to his second straight win, did exactly the same thing as Fernando. This now meant Davies was in the lead, and was fighting Hamilton who had gained a lot of time in the pit stops. Perez, Button and Webber were fighting over third, not a long way behind. Over the last few laps, Davies and Hamilton fought over the last spot, with Hamilton ahead through the hairpin, but Davies had DRS and outbroke him into the chicane. Holding him off on the run to the line, Davies took victory, the first since his comeback last season, and his first one at Montreal. Perez did a fine job to take his first career podium in third, while Webber also used the DRS to pass Button on the final lap.

1st: R. Davies (FL)
2nd: L. Hamilton
3rd: S. Perez
4th: M. Webber
5th: J. Button
6th: V. Petrov
7th: J. Alguersuari
8th: N. Rosberg
9th: N. Heidfeld
10th: S. Buemi
---
16th: R. Barrichello
17th: J. Trulli
18th: J. D'Ambrosio
19th: V. Liuzzi
20th: H. Kovalainen
21st: N. Karthikeyan
22nd: T. Glock
DNF: F. Massa
DNF: F. Alonso

Standings:
1st: M. Webber - 116
2nd: J. Button - 115
3rd: R. Davies - 82
4th: F. Massa - 77
5th: F. Alonso - 75
6th: L. Hamilton - 63
7th: S. Vettel - 49
8th: N. Rosberg - 34
9th: S. Perez - 27
10th: V. Petrov - 23
11th: J. Alguersuari - 19
12th: N. Heidfeld - 12
13th: M. Schumacher - 8
14th: P. di Resta - 4
15th: S. Buemi - 3

1st: McLaren - 178
2nd: Red Bull - 169
3rd: Ferrari - 152
4th: Williams - 82
5th: Mercedes - 42
6th: Renault - 35
7th: Sauber - 27
8th: Toro Rosso - 22
9th: Force India - 4

[Wizzie]

Round 14 - Italy

Qualifying:

Just when everyone thought they had the answers, the questions change as McLaren pulled off an unlikely 1-2 on the grid around the Monza circuit. Even more surprisingly, it was Jenson Button getting the upper hand on Lewis Hamilton while Fernando Alonso was third on the grid. The Red Bulls could only achieve 4th (Vettel) and 5th (Bourdais) while championship leader Daniel Melrose was stranded in 8th. Dave Simpson continued his fantastic Belgium form with 9th on the grid while both the Renaults were outside the top 10 for the second race running.

Grid:
1. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
4. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
5. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
6. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
7. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
8. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
9. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
11. S. Jones (Renault)
12. R. Kubica (Renault)
13. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
14. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
15. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
16. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
17. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
18. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
20. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

Daniel Melrose has always been known to pull off some blindingly quick first laps. Here in Italy however, he outdid even himself to be fourth at the first chicane before following it up with blasting past the slow-starting Hamilton at the second chicane and then threading the needle into the Parabolica by passing Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button at the same time to be in the lead by the end of lap 1. By the same token, Rhys Davies had an absolute shocker of a start as by the end of lap two, he had gone from 10th all the way down to 19th. While Melrose quickly built a four second gap to the two McLarens, Melrose's two stopper was never going to get him anyway without some luck.

Fortunately for him, He got good luck dished to him in spades as it soon became clear that Alonso had absolutely no pace in his Ferrari and was holding up the Red Bulls, his teammate Nico Rosberg and Phoenix McAllister in the 2nd Ferrari. That became one Red Bull soon enough when Sebastian Vettel's engine cried enough after just five laps. Sammy Jones was the next to depart when his Renault engine also gave up the ghost. With Robert Kubica at the back of the field after an early puncture, it was fast turning into a horror day for the Renault guys.

While the attrition rate continued to climb, the order up front settled down as it soon became clear that it was a McLaren benefit for the win with Melrose doing everything in his power to salvage a podium. By half distance, Melrose's job had been made easier with teammate Rosberg becoming the latest victim of the ever-growing retiree list which now included the likes Dave Simpson and Adrian Sutil. And then, McLaren simply imploded on themselves as within 3 laps, separate accidents for both Hamilton and Button removed both of them from an almost certain 1-2 and all but ending their hopes for either championship. Alonso hit debris from the Button accident and proceeded to have a big accident of his own. Suddenly, Melrose had gone from third to being the only main title challenger with the potential to score meaningful points for the second event running.

Phoenix McAllister was now 2nd and not making any inroads to the 10 second lead Melrose had amassed but all eyes were now on Sebastian Bourdais as he was catching the leaders at a vast rate of knots with the freshest tyres of the leading trio. Not that it mattered much in the end as one of said tyres on Bourdais' car acquired a puncture and ended the Frenchmen's day a dozen or so laps before the end. With Melrose and McAllister the only front runners left, it was a field day for the midfield runners the likes of which hasn't been seen in years.

Of the major midfield contenders, both Renaults and Davies were all effectively removed from the equation early on (Although later in the race Davies returned with a vengeance) while Dave Simpson had his car remove him from the battle for any major points with a suspension failure. With Jaime Alguersuari and Adrian Sutil both having accidents of their own, it left Sutil's teammate Nathan McKane and Kamui Kobayashi to fight it out for what eventually became third and fourth places with Davies catching the pair of them at a vast rate of knots.

While the former three-time champ passed Kobayashi with ease, he ran out of time to pass McKane as the Scotsman held on to his first Formula One podium which vaulted Force India back ahead of Sauber in the constructors championship. Heikki Kovalainen had a relatively quiet day in 6th whilst in 7th and 8th were the recovering Kubica and the anonymous Sebastian Buemi. At the tail end of the field, it was elation for one team and heartbreak for the other as Timo Glock finished 9th for the Lotus team. Adrian Rees was running an incredible 10th for the Hispania team late in the race but eventually lost the place to the other Lotus of Bruno Senna who was on much fresher rubber.

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1h 16m 09.513
2. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +8.861
3. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): +50.476
4. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): +50.920
5. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +57.838
6. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): +1:04.443
7. R. Kubica (Renault): +1:19.700
8. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): +1:23.328
9. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): +1 LAP
10. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
11. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
DNF. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
DNF. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
DNF. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
DNF. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
DNF. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
DNF. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
DNF. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
DNF. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
DNF. S. Jones (Renault)
DNF. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)

Pole: J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 1:23.198
Fastest Lap: S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 1:24.379
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-18, 35-53 (Total: 37)
J. Button: 19-33 (Total: 15)
L. Hamilton: 34 (Total: 1)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 228 points (6 wins, 2 3rds)
2. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 157 points (1 win, 3 2nds)
3. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 150 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 3 3rds)
4. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 143 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
5. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 137 points (3 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 130 points (3 2nds, 2 3rds)
7. S. Jones (Renault): 98 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
8. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 87 points (1 3rd)
9. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 80 points (Best Result: 2 4ths)
10. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 69 points (1 3rd)
11. R. Kubica (Renault): 31 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
12. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 25 points (1 3rd)
13. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 20 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
14. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 20 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
15. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 17 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
16. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 13 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
17. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
18. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): 2 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
20. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): 1 point (Best Result: 1 10th)

Constructors:

1. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 309 points (6 wins, 2 3rds)
2. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 300 points (2 wins, 5 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. Red Bull Racing Renault: 287 points (5 wins, 4 2nds, 5 3rds)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 217 points (3 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 129 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 82 points (1 3rd)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 42 points (1 3rd)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 40 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 6 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
10. Lotus Racing Cosworth: 3 points (Best Result: 1 9th)

As the season reaches it's climax, the first of the flyaway races in Singapore is the next race on the calender

[RealRacingRoots]

McKane pleased with third place
After getting his maiden podium in the Italian Grand Prix last weekend, Force India driver Nathan McKane was happy with the result.

"The whole team was really happy with the result," Nathan said in a post race interview, "we have worked really hard to get this car working right throughout the year, and everything fell into place for us here."

Force India team principal Vijay Mallya echoed the scot's enthusiasm after the result. "This is the best result we have had since the low downforce races last year. We saw huge potential in Nathan when we signed him at the beginning of the year, and it is great to see him drive the way he did this weekend."

The result puts the Silverstone based team ahead of main rivals Sauber in the constructors' championship, as the teams head to Singapore for the final few flyaways this season.

You should have tried to tell me earlier that McKane was in this. Oh well, at least he has escaped rejectdum twice.

[Wizzie]

You should have tried to tell me earlier that McKane was in this. Oh well, at least he has escaped rejectdum twice.

I would have done it earlier but being a combination of lazy and egomaniacal got in the way

[Wizzie]

Round 15 - Singapore

Qualifying

It was one of those days where Daniel Melrose was, for whatever reason, simply off the boil. His demeanor after qualifying 8th all but confirmed this as he simply couldn't look like being able to get his Mercedes to work properly yet again. Luckily for the champ, he's still managed to collect a smattering of minor points finishes even when the car hasn't been to his liking whilst his title rivals have thrown their chances away left, right and centre. Red Bull made up for their Monza nightmare with 1-2 on the grid with Sebastien Bourdais ahead of Sebastian Vettel while Fernando Alonso was the only Ferrari anywhere near the front of the grid in third. Rhys Davies put in another solid effort for 7th ahead of his fellow Australian while Phoenix McAllister slumped to a lowly 10th on the grid after scoring two podiums on the trot.

Grid:
1. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
4. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
5. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
7. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
8. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
9. S. Jones (Renault)
10. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
11. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
12. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
13. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
14. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
15. R. Kubica (Renault)
16. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
17. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
18. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
19. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
20. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

You know luck's going your way when you can screw up your strategy, pit four times in one race and STILL end up finishing third. And that's the sort of luck Daniel Melrose is having on track right now in the changeable weather that befell the Singapore track. Having started out damp, Melrose anticipated more rain on the way and was the only man to start on inters. Despite going from 8th to the lead in one lap, the rain didn't arrive initially which meant by the end of lap 6, Melrose was in the pits for dry tyres and down in a dismal 17th.

Some typical aggressive driving, strategic masterstrokes and three more pitstops later and the World Champ took one massive stride closer to a fifth world title by passing teammate Nico Rosberg with about 5 corners to go on the final lap as the German struggled on wets against the superior monsoon tyres. With Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel both retiring yet again, Melrose now only needs one fourth place finish to take the title in his swansong year.

Not that anyone really cared about the title fight as all eyes were on one Rhys Davies. Since his last season in Formula One in 2002, he's won four Bathurst crowns, taken home two Champ Car win at Surfers Paradise, won at Le Mans and been a V8 Supercar Champion. The man has literally done it all and can now add a comeback win at the streets of Singapore. In the changeable conditions, he proved yet again to the world why he is a three time world champion. As the majority of the front runners fell foul of either the concrete and steel armco canyons of Marina Bay, Davies kept his head on straight and took home his 18th career victory, the first win for Williams since Juan Pablo Montoya in the 2003 German Grand Prix.

Jenson Button took his best result of the year in 2nd and with the Mercedes duo finishing 3-4, their position in the constructors championship strengthens further heading into the final quartet of races. Robert Kubica finished 5th while Phoenix McAllister was disappointing by anyone standards in 6th. Force India scored a double points finish with Nathan McKane finishing ahead of teammate Adrian Sutil while Jaime Alguersuari and Timo Glock rounded out the points.

1. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 1h 52m 18.591
2. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): +21.186
3. D. Melrose (Mercedes): +28.797
4. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +32.452
5. R. Kubica (Renault): +1:06.221
6. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +1:26.473
7. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): +1:38.740
8. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): +1:51.901
9. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): +1:52.854
10. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): +1 LAP
11. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +2 LAPS*
12. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth): +2 LAPS
13. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): +4 LAPS*
14. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): +7 LAPS*
DNF. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
DNF. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
DNF. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
DNF. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
DNF. S. Jones (Renault)
DNF. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
DNF. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)

Pole: S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 1:33.643
Fastest Lap: D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1:35.825
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-5 (Total: 5)
F. Alonso: 6-16 (Total: 11)
S. Vettel: 17, 19-22, 27-29 (Total: 8)
N. Rosberg: 18, 41 (Total: 2)
J. Button: 23-26 (Total: 4)
R. Davies: 30-40, 42-61 (Total: 31)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 243 points (6 wins, 3 3rds)
2. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 157 points (1 win, 3 2nds)
3. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 151 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
4. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 150 points (2 wins, 3 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 137 points (3 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 130 points (3 2nds, 2 3rds)
7. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 105 points (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
8. S. Jones (Renault): 98 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
9. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 94 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
10. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 92 points (Best Result: 3 4ths)
11. R. Kubica (Renault): 41 points (Best Result: 2 5ths)
12. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 31 points (1 3rd)
13. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 21 points (Best Result: 3 8ths)
14. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 20 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
15. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 20 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 13 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
17. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
18. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 2 9ths)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): 3 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
20. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): 1 point (Best Result: 1 10th)

Constructors:

1. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 336 points (6 wins, 3 3rds)
2. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 308 points (2 wins, 5 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. Red Bull Racing Renault: 287 points (5 wins, 4 2nds, 5 3rds)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 235 points (4 2nds, 3 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 139 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 107 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 52 points (1 3rd)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 40 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 8 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
10. Lotus Racing Cosworth: 4 points (Best Result: 1 9th)

Next up is another fan favourite at the Suzuka Circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix

[RealRacingRoots]

You should have tried to tell me earlier that McKane was in this. Oh well, at least he has escaped rejectdum twice.

I would have done it earlier but being a combination of lazy and egomaniacal got in the way

Sounds like me on a good day.

[Wizzie]

Race results for Singapore now up

[the Masked Lapwing]

Champ Car? No. Just no.

[Wizzie]

Champ Car? No. Just no.

Looks like I've found the line then

[the Masked Lapwing]

2011 European Grand Prix

The Valencia Street Circuit was a track that Davies had only driven on once before, last season in fact. While he retired from the race, he had enjoyed the track a lot, considering how boring it was otherwise.

Qualifying:
No surprising anyone as Fernando Alonso made up for his disappointment in Barcelona by taking pole position on his second attempt in his home country.

1st: F. Alonso
---
6th: R. Davies

Race:
Davies made one spot off the start, but an ambitious move into turn 1 or 2 or whatever the first real corner is saw him move into third, behind Alonso and Hamilton. As the Ferrari and McLaren fought over the lead, Davies hung back, until he DRS'd past the both of them (Hamilton in the first zone, Alonso in the second) and set about disappearing. Until the pit stops, where a huge amount of marbles had built up right at the entry, causing many to lose control on the way in, including Davies, hitting the wall and requiring a front wing to be brought out. He wasn't the most serious case though, as Kamui Kobayashi put himself out of the race. Davies had stopped a lap earlier than Hamilton and Alonso, and they emerged from their stops right behind. Davies had made using the DRS look easy earlier, but superior traction out of the corners and (very) late braking at the end of the straights made him untouchable, and he took his second consecutive victory. Hamilton managed to pass Alonso at the final corner, with a bit of push and shove, taking second for the third time in a row.

1st: R. Davies (FL)
2nd: L. Hamilton
3rd: F. Alonso
4th: J. Button
5th: F. Massa
6th: M. Webber
7th: S. Vettel
8th: N. Rosberg
9th: S. Perez
10th: M. Schumacher
---
17th: R. Barrichello
18th: T. Glock
19th: J. Trulli
20th: V. Liuzzi
21st: H. Kovalainen
22nd: N. Karthikeyan
23rd: J. D'Ambrosio
DNF: K. Kobayashi

Standings:
1st: J. Button - 127
2nd: M. Webber - 124
3rd: R. Davies - 107
4th: F. Alonso - 90
5th: F. Massa - 87
6th: L. Hamilton - 81
7th: S. Vettel - 55
8th: N. Rosberg - 38
9th: S. Perez - 29
10th: V. Petrov - 23
11th: J. Alguersuari - 19
12th: N. Heidfeld - 12
13th: M. Schumacher - 9
14th: P. di Resta - 4
15th: S. Buemi - 3

1st: McLaren - 208
2nd: Red Bull - 183
3rd: Ferrari - 177
4th: Williams - 107
5th: Mercedes - 47
6th: Renault - 35
7th: Sauber - 29
8th: Toro Rosso - 22
9th: Force India - 4

[Wizzie]

You should have tried to tell me earlier that McKane was in this. Oh well, at least he has escaped rejectdum twice.

I would have done it earlier but being a combination of lazy and egomaniacal got in the way

Sounds like me on a good day.

Oh. I also forgot to mention you're testing an MRT car in the RoLFS pre-season tests. Don't question it, it's the only way McKane's gonna get a Reject License

[the Masked Lapwing]

2011 British Grand Prix

Qualifying:
The less said the better...

1st: S. Vettel
---
10th: R. Davies (+20 grid places for blocking!)


Race:
A brilliant start saw Davies get into the top 10, while Sergio Perez and Nick Heidfeld found out the hard way that the bollards on the outside of turn 1 aren't very flexible, and put themselves out of the race (well, actually, Davies put Perez into the bollards, and Heidfeld had nowhere to go). Davies spent most of the race struggling with grip, and desperately holding off anyone who had the misfortune to be behind him. In fact, most of his race was spent hitting Jenson Button, with collisions at virtually every corner on the track. In the end, neither finished in the points, although Button got the upper hand. At the end of the race, it was Vettel winning from pole, with Alonso second and Webber third. Kamui Kobayashi unrejectfied himself by finishing 6th, his first points, and Adrian Sutil also scored his first point of the year.

1st: S. Vettel
2nd: F. Alonso
3rd: M. Webber
4th: F. Massa
5th: L. Hamilton
6th: K. Kobayashi
7th: M. Schumacher
8th: V. Petrov
9th: J. Alguersuari
10th: A. Sutil
---
12th: J. Button (FL)
13th: R. Davies
--
16th: J. Trulli
17th: V. Liuzzi
18th: T. Glock
19th: N. Karthikeyan
20th: J. D'Ambrosio
21st: R. Barrichello (useless piece of...)
22nd: H. Kovalainen
DNF: N. Heidfeld
DNF: S. Perez


Standings:
1st: M. Webber - 139
2nd: J. Button - 127
3rd: F. Alonso - 108
4th: R. Davies - 107
5th: F. Massa - 99
6th: L. Hamilton - 91
7th: S. Vettel - 80
8th: N. Rosberg - 38
9th: S. Perez - 29
10th: V. Petrov - 27
11th: J. Alguersuari - 21
12th: M. Schumacher - 15
13th: N. Heidfeld - 12
14th: K. Kobayashi - 8
15th: P. di Resta - 4
16th: S. Buemi - 3
17th: A. Sutil - 1

1st: Red Bull - 223
2nd: McLaren - 218
3rd: Ferrari - 207
4th: Williams - 107
5th: Mercedes - 53
6th: Renault - 39
7th: Sauber - 37
8th: Toro Rosso - 24
9th: Force India - 5

[Wizzie]

Round 16 - Japan

Qualifying:

Daniel Melrose may have entered the Japanese Grand Prix weekend with one of the worst buildups imaginable but that didn't stop him putting in his most competitive qualifying showing since Hungary. Not that it was much of an improvement as he was still only a relatively poor 6th. The two Red Bulls were romping away as usual and, as usual, it was the wrong Red Bull of Sebastien Bourdais getting the jump on teammate Sebastian Vettel. Phoenix McAllister did his chances for 2nd in the championship no harm at all by being comfortably ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso whilst Mark Webber scored a small windfall for HRT by beating both Lotuses to 19th for the 2nd race in a row.

Grid:
1. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault)
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault)
3. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
4. P. McAllister (Ferrari)
5. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
6. D. Melrose (Mercedes)
7. F. Alonso (Ferrari)
8. N. Rosberg (Mercedes)
9. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth)
10. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
11. S. Jones (Renault)
12. R. Kubica (Renault)
13. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes)
14. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
15. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth)
16. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
17. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
18. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
19. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
20. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth)
21. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
22. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth)

Race:

Daniel Melrose only needed a 4th place finish to win the championship. However, Melrose never really knew the meaning of backing off and, in the mood he was in, the only way was forward as sheer aggression off the start got him into the lead by the Degner Curves. Once it turned out that, yet again, his two stop strategy was the one to be on, that was as far as the race for the win and the championship was concerned as high tyre wear plagued the field, including Melrose. Sebastian Vettel took a consolidation second place as the battle for 2nd in the championship heated up while Jenson Button benefited from Lewis Hamilton and Sebastien Bourdais losing their heads to score third. The Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Phoenix McAllister finished 4th and 5th ahead of the aforementioned Bourdais and Hamilton. Nico Rosberg and Rhys Davies were running 6th and 7th in the closing phases of the race but in the end, the pair fell down to 8th and 9th while Sammy Jones scored the final point in 10th place.

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 1h 26m 06.190
2. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): +41.659
3. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): +51.473
4. F. Alonso (Ferrari): +53.617
5. P. McAllister (Ferrari): +1:07.507
6. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): +1:07.749
7. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): +1:08.196
8. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): +1:14.750
9. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): +1:19.709
10. S. Jones (Renault): +1:29.477
11. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): +1 LAP
12. R. Kubica (Renault): +1 LAP
13. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): +1 LAP
14. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
15. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): +1 LAP
16. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): +1 LAP
17. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): +1 LAP
18. A. Rees (HRT-Cosworth): +3 LAPS
DNF. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth)
DNF. M. Webber (HRT-Cosworth)
DNF. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari)
DNF. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)

Pole: S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 1:33.499
Fastest Lap: L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 1:33.903
Leaders: D. Melrose: 1-18, 20-53 (Total: 52)
S. Vettel: 19 (Total: 1)

Championship Standings:
Drivers:

1. D. Melrose (Mercedes): 268 points (7 wins, 3 3rds) (World Champion)
2. F. Alonso (Ferrari): 169 points (1 win, 3 2nds)
3. S. Vettel (RBR-Renault): 168 points (2 wins, 4 2nds, 3 3rds)
4. P. McAllister (Ferrari): 161 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
5. S. Bourdais (RBR-Renault): 145 points (3 wins, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. L. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes): 136 points (3 2nds, 2 3rds)
7. J. Button (McLaren-Mercedes): 120 points (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
8. S. Jones (Renault): 99 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
9. R. Davies (Williams-Cosworth): 96 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
10. N. Rosberg (Mercedes): 96 points (Best Result: 3 4ths)
11. R. Kubica (Renault): 41 points (Best Result: 2 5ths)
12. N. McKane (Force India-Mercedes): 31 points (1 3rd)
13. A. Sutil (Force India-Mercedes): 21 points (Best Result: 3 8ths)
14. D. Simpson (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 20 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
15. K. Kobayashi (BMW Sauber-Ferrari): 20 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
16. H. Kovalainen (Williams-Cosworth): 13 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
17. S. Buemi (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
18. J. Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari): 4 points (Best Result: 2 9ths)
19. T. Glock (Lotus-Cosworth): 3 points (Best Result: 1 9th)
20. B. Senna (Lotus-Cosworth): 1 point (Best Result: 1 10th)

Constructors:

1. Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team: 365 points (7 wins, 3 3rds)
2. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: 330 points (2 wins, 5 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. Red Bull Racing Renault: 313 points (5 wins, 5 2nds, 5 3rds)
4. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 256 points (4 2nds, 4 3rds)
5. RubberTex Renault F1 Team: 140 points (1 win, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
6. AT&T Williams Cosworth: 109 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
7. Kingfisher Force India F1 Team Mercedes: 52 points (1 3rd)
8. BMW Sauber Ferrari: 40 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari: 8 points (Best Result: 1 8th)
10. Lotus Racing Cosworth: 4 points (Best Result: 1 9th)

Next up is the Korean Grand Prix at the brand new Korean International Circuit