For the first half of the race, it seemed as though we were in for a season-long passing of the torch. Sebastian Vettel stormed away from the field in a race that quickly settled in as a procession. Then a funny thing happened. Vettel’s car fell well off the pace and Fernando Alonso charged by to win his first race in a Ferrari. Alonso may have won the day but the big winner was Felipe Massa who finished a solid second in his first race back from injury. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton finished third but the result wasn’t what folks were talking about.

Coming into the race, it was safe to say that Ferrari and Red Bull were the two favourites for the 2010 championship. The Red Bull was the faster looking car during most of testing but the Ferrari was generally considered faster on race pace. Mercedes GP and McLaren rounded out the fast four but were considered off the pace compared to Red Bull and Ferrari. However, testing is one thing, the race is another.

Vettel looked good in qualifying and stormed away from the field at the start of the race. Late in the first stint, the Ferraris reeled in Vettel as his tires went away. After the first round of pitstops, Vettel pulled the lead back out again until he was hit with a cracked exhaust header which sapped his engine of power and dropped him from first to fourth by the time the day was done. Fernando Alonso may have started behind his teammate Massa but made a move by him off the start. (By the way, the team say that an electrical fault with the engine caused it to lose power but it sure sounded like an exhaust issue to everyone.)

And that was about the extent of the passing up front. Alonso, Massa, and Hamilton each powered by Vettel on the straights while he was down on power so I don’t think that particularly counts. Jenson Button was able to get by Mark Webber on the pit stop exchange but, other than the above noted “passes”, the race was a parade. It looks like the refuelling ban hasn’t done much to improve the quality of racing as I had feared.

The most telling demonstration of the poor decision making in changing the circuit layout came from the GP2 Asia cars. They ran on the 2009 Grand Prix layout two weeks ago in what was described as one of the greatest races in history. Drivers were making passes at just about every turn. This weekend, their race was basically a parade. I know that the GP2 cars were designed to maximize downforce from ground effect to allow the cars to follow more closely but the only difference between the two races is the track. Clearly, the extended layout has done nothing but make the lap longer than it has to be. Hopefully for 2011, the race organizers switch back to the old Grand Prix layout.

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So we’ve been at this for all of one round and we’re fielding complaints about TSN’s coverage (or lack thereof). A quick refresher for everyone: Heading into the 2009 season, TSN said they would be dropping any of their supplemental coverage to the British feed they picked up. In other words, TSN would no longer do a pre- or post-race show and wouldn’t be doing commentary for qualifying. The result was bad with commentary getting cut-off for commercials, extremely long commercial breaks, the audio feed dropping altogether, and the race broadcast being randomly ended without warning for SportsCentre.

TSN used to put an effort into its racing coverage but has just stopped. From their perspective, it’s the perfect plan. Only us diehards get up early in the morning to watch F1 and we’ll watch it regardless if the coverage is good or not. The viewership won’t change regardless of what we think of the quality so TSN can easily justify their change in coverage as not making a difference. But if we stop watching, TSN just says that there’s no point in putting an effort into F1 because no one watches. Let’s face it, folks. TSN has all the leverage. All we can do is hope that TSN lets F1 go and either another sports channel picks it up and puts some effort into it or no one in Canada picks up F1 and we can watch Speed show everyone how it’s done.

Of course, I’m not saying we should all sit on our collective asses and wait for the inevitable. We need action now. We’re trying to dig up a contact for live programming or a general programming but for know we have the audience relations email that we can send our thoughts to (audiencerelations@tsn.ca). You can also call them at 416-384-7660. Thanks to commenter Angry Canuck for the info.

By the way, I watch today’s race on Speed (on Shaw Cable). TSN did manage to get the HD feed blocked, though. They won’t force a blackout or superimpose their feeds for NASCAR or the NFL which must mean that F1 is a bigger draw than those two, right?

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Speaking of folks that tend to be an embarrassment to F1, let’s talk about the three new teams. Only one of the six car finished. Heikki Kovalainen was the fastest driver of the six in the race and managed to finish 2nd last of the cars still running (15th and one ahead of Buemi). His teammate Jarno Trulli retired on the final lap with a mechanical issue. Both of the Virgin cars retired before halfway with hydraulic system failures which have plagued the team since it first turned a wheel in testing. I guess their patchwork fix isn’t a great solution.

Hispania were big stories this weekend, though largely because they were able to take the track. Karun Chandhok hadn’t turned a wheel until Q1 but managed to time within 2 seconds of his teammate after 7 laps of running. In the race, his inexperience showed when he spun into the barrier after a lap-and-a-half. Bruno Senna had a slightly better weekend. He ran about 38 laps before the race. The team might want to reconsider the Chandhok strategy because Senna’s engine only lasted 19 laps before it ground itself to pieces.

It wasn’t a horrible weekend for the new boys. Nobody could have legitimately expected them to contend for points right out of the box. Hell, it should be nearly as good as a victory for the Lotus boys to not finish dead last of the cars that took the checkered flag.

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McLaren is back in the news about some aerodynamic controversies. You’ve heard about the first one by now. They have a small “air scoop” on top of the cockpit (behind and to the right of the white Vodafone logo in the picture) which feeds air through some tubes under the rear wing. Increasing the airflow under the wing effectively stalls the air over the top of the wing which reduces drag & downforce and increases straight-line speed by up to 8 MPH. That would be okay except for the fact that the stalling effect isn’t constant. The way it is often explained, the driver rests his knee on a small inflated bladder or balloon inside the cockpit which stops the airflow from the scoop to the wing. That allows the wing to reach full downforce. On the straight, the driver takes his knee off the bladder which resumes the airflow and reduces the drag of the rear wing. The FIA ruled this as legal because the driver is not a moveable aerodynamic device. Really, though, that is spitting in the face of the spirit of the rules. I know that teams should be allowed to explore the grey areas of the rule books but the thing is that the driver is acting like a moveable aerodynamic device by actively changing the downforce of the rear wing. The letter of the rule may allow this but, unless you’re a diehard Macca fan, you know that this rear wing setup isn’t on the up and up.

Meanwhile, they have a slightly less critical aerodynamic advice that the FIA has cracked down on. The hole for the external engine starter was deemed to be larger than was necessary for its function. The FIA told McLaren that they could have it at this race but must change it before the next race. The stewards’ thinking is that the larger starter hole would act as another level in the rear diffuser. So this minor exploitation of a grey area is a no-go zone but a rear wing that stalls at the driver’s discretion is okay? Only in Formula One…

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The race at the front of the field may have been the only one that counted in the points standings but most drivers were interested in how they did relative to the legend on the grid. Two of F1’s young guns, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, grew up idolizing Michael Schumacher but cracked F1 a year too late to race their hero. Now that Schumi’s back, they can live out their fantasies by facing the greatest of all time. The man even more interested in battles with Schumacher is his teammate Nico Rosberg. The next most experience German in the field can make a name for himself by topping the greatest F1 driver of all time.

Well, after round one, all three of those guys managed to beat the legend. Rosberg has to feel especially good about that because he beat his teammate. He was half-a-second faster in practice and about three-tenths faster in qualifying. Paddock insiders figured that Schumacher would make up the difference on race pace but he wasn’t quite there. Schumacher finished 4 seconds behind Rosberg. That’s still respectable for a driver who’s still trying to get into the swing of things after three seasons on the sidelines. What might be more concerning for him is that Jenson Button was all over him by the end of the race. If Schumacher is going to make an impact this year, the car will have to be improved. Rosberg was well behind any of the top four, Vettel’s cracked header not withstanding. The Mercedes GP duo don’t appear to have the same speed as the other members of the fast four. At his age, I don’t know if Michael still has it in him to will a subpar car to victories and podiums.

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The next race brings us to the street circuit at Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix. Regardless of what happens with McLaren’s rear wing over the next two weeks, speed doesn’t matter here. It’s all about who can handle the medium speed corners. The Red Bulls seemed fast through the middle sector at Bahrain so I would expect them to contend if they don’t have any more engine troubles. Ferrari looked strong yesterday and has historically dominated at Albert Park which bodes well after this weekend at Bahrain. Fernando Alonso also said that the F60 has speed left in the bag. Not good news for the rest of the grid.