Putting the heat into 2012

Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle on why F1 is witnessing such varied and dramatic racing - and how the Pirellis are putting the heat into 2012...

The Shanghai circuit has produced some great races and last weekend was one of the very best. We normally rely on rain to create crazy and unpredictable races like that but the layout clearly works. The combination of corners seems very effective at keeping the pack close together while generating errors and opportunities, while the long back-straight into a tight hairpin (which importantly has a wide exit) creates the overtakes and drama. There's a new dimension which is making this season so exciting and unpredictable and it involves the Pirelli tyres. We saw last year how tyre wear was critical, and how the tyres can degrade either through wear or overheating. This year there also appears to be another aspect of having the tyres in a suitable temperature window before the rubber 'switches on' the grip. The teams and drivers will get a handle on this as the season unfolds but right now it's mixing up the pack nicely. Three winners from three races is just what we like. This also explains why even a supposedly midfield team can find the sweet spot and be competitive. The chemical relationship between a tyre, the track surface, and the track and ambient temperatures and humidity has always been complex, not to mention a little mysterious, but the 2012 F1 Pirellis definitely need careful analysis and treatment. Nico Rosberg said that he managed his tyres every lap, and never once went flat out to take all the speed available in any given lap. Almost everybody in the paddock was convinced that Mercedes would fall back in the race despite having locked out the front row of the grid after Lewis Hamilton's penalty. This was based on several aspects; the team had struggled so much on long runs in pre-season testing and the first two races. Furthermore, on an ever-cooling qualifying surface the Mercs were mighty which neatly fitted the theory of a car quickly heating its tyres - great in qualy but a disadvantage on full tanks in the race. As total confirmation, on their longer runs in Friday practice they appeared significantly slower than Red Bull and McLaren. Clearly Mercedes knew better and planned a two-stop strategy. They even had the confidence to stick with this when Button and co were coming at them in the various phases. It was helped significantly by Rosberg adding a brilliant start to a stonking qualifying lap, and then enjoying clear air as he controlled the race comfortably at the front. Michael Schumacher in the sister car looked to struggle a little more in his wake but without his pit stop gremlin, which would make him the only retirement in the race, he would surely have been on the podium. The turning point of the race was when Jenson Button had a wheel nut issue on his final stop. Not only did it cost him six seconds, much more critically it put him at the back of a big pack of cars and he would quickly grain those tyres - but was nevertheless able to sweep back through to second. Could he have won? It would have been close but we'll never know how much more Rosberg had in reserve, or whether his tyres would have wilted in the closing stages if Button has chased him down. So Nico becomes the third son of a former winner to stand on the top step of an F1 podium, although the only one who's dad was around to witness it sadly. I've championed Nico for a few years now but I was beginning to wonder if he could really deliver. Now we know. In total contrast to Rosberg's serene drive where he seemed to have the track to himself, the rest were in a ferocious pack where they were swinging 10 places up and down the field through the various pit stop phases. This intensified as runners like Raikkonen, who was trying to achieve a two-stop strategy by running 28 laps on the same set of tyres, simply ran out of grip and fell away. Fernando Alonso continues to shine for Ferrari, somehow dragging a reluctant car round into 9th place. Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari, one of only four drivers to start on the medium compound tyre, drove a very solid race but only finished 13th which tells you more about the race than it does him on this occasion. Two Williams cars in the points confirms that they have a much better package for 2012. Curiously, the Saubers were very disappointing. They seemed to have a fast car, particularly down the long straight, but didn't really do anything with it come the race other than record the fastest lap to underline their potential. Kobayashi's poor start didn't help and for once, Perez couldn't work his magic on tyre wear. Romain Grosjean had several adventures on the way to his first world championship points in the Lotus. In the first two races he only managed a total of five laps and so this performance was rather crucial for him. Sebastian Vettel continues to confound. After a lacklustre qualifying in 11th position he then managed to fluff the start and was down to 15th. After two years of having all the bases covered suddenly he's lost his touch, although his recovery drive on a two stopper to fifth suggests that normal service could be resumed very shortly. As we head to Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton, who has finished third in all three races, narrowly leads the Drivers' Championship from Jenson Button, meaning McLaren also lead the Constructors' Championship. A snap shot of that would suggest that McLaren have had a clear advantage in the opening stages but nothing could be further from the truth. What a season we appear to have in store. MB