MOTORSPORT: Consistency the big winner

Before any giggles about the inclusion of Webber in this context, consider this: without even a podium this year he's just five points from the lead in the overall race for the F1 world title, courtesy of four straight fourth places in the four GPs so far this year. Webber's dual champion teammate Sebastian Vettel is now leading after his victory in Bahrain last night.

What a difference a week made. In Shanghai the previous Sunday the podium was a clean sweep for Mercedes-engined cars; in Bahrain Renault-powered drivers filled the top three spots, then came Webber with another Renault engine.

Lotus pair Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean were second and third, from 11th and seventh on the grid. Raikkonen came close to overtaking Vettel but miscalculated. Nonetheless it was the best F1 race for the Lotus name since the days of Ayrton Senna before he joined McLaren in the late '80s.

But back to V8 Supercars and consistency. FPR is proving it can win repeatedly. It was victorious in both 200km races at the last event on the streets of Hamilton, New Zealand -- Davison on Saturday and Winterbottom on Sunday.

The racing was enthralling, particularly on Sunday. Just a pity the TV picture was lost two laps from the finish. We'll leave TV matters to another day, once we've seen the viewing figures for the NZ round.

FPR has now won four of the six championship races so far this year. Include the four non-championship races at the Australian GP and the score is seven of 10. Indeed, the score for Ford the manufacturer is eight of 10 because of Shane van Gisbergen's victory at the GP. What a turnaround from last year when Holdens won 90 per cent of races!

Davison has won a race at each of the three championship rounds so far and been on the podium in all six races for points. That's why he leads the series, albeit by only 21 points -- 846 to Whincup's 825. It is Whincup who demonstrates the importance of consistency so consistently. He's won three championships in four years and the other time fought to the wire for it.

This season Whincup has won twice for Triple Eight, been on the podium every time but one -- and then he was fourth. That's keeping the heat on the two FPR stars -- and ahead (in the championship) of the one who held him at bay in Sunday's thrilling finish. That race confirmed yet again Winterbottom's blistering speed but he is yet to find the consistency of either Whincup or now Davison.

Craig Lowndes remains a force in V8 Supercar racing but, fourth in the championship, there are 100 points between him and Winterbottom -- 557 to 657. While Lowndes is so often thereabouts and could yet seriously challenge for a fourth title, which would be his first in 13 years, he hasn't yet made it to the podium in this season's championship.

And Lee Holdsworth, in his first season of driving a Ford after switching from Holden, is only two points behind in the standings.

There has been a lot to like about V8 Supercar racing this year, thanks largely to FPR's improvement, but what the consistency we're highlighting is doing is emphasising the strength of teams most closely aligned to the participating manufacturers. Only four teams have been represented on the podiums after the six championship races. FPR and Triple Eight (or Davison, Whincup and Winterbottom) have had 14 podium appearances, Holden Racing Team three (all by Garth Tander) and Stone Brothers Racing the other (van Gisbergen at Symmons Plains).

What has become clear after three rounds is that FPR and Triple Eight are in a league of their own, with HRT and SBR a peg below -- and the rest playing a perhaps unwinnable game of catch-up.

Nissan's arrival in V8 Supercar racing is now only 10 months away. Kelly Racing chairman John Crennan said at the announcement of Nissan's entry that history showed the importance of being aligned with a factory. What the Japanese brand's participation will do for the sport only time will tell, but perhaps in due course it will produce another genuine, consistent challenger to the very few teams dominating the results now.

It was noted that chairman Cochrane wasn't V8 Supercars Australia's front man on the news of the return to the Creek, on August 24-26, but rather new chief executive David Malone. Politics and point-scoring aside, this is good news. Australia's biggest city gets back to having two championship rounds in the year, with the season finale at Homebush -- and NSW also has the "crown jewel", the Bathurst 1000.

Eastern Creek has been given an $11 million upgrade in recent times, with a revised layout and upgraded pits and spectator facilities. The championship round at Winton in northern Victoria has been shifted from August to the penultimate event before Homebush, while the Eastern Creek will be the start of a 10 days of celebration of "All Things V8", concluding with the eighth Muscle Car Masters on the Fathers' Day weekend at the start of September... Hooray, we say.

Four GPs, four different winners. Yet Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber are second and third in the world championship without a win.

Lotus is a revelation. Despite continuing commercial difficulties at Group Lotus, the F1 team bearing the famous name has made phenomenal progress -- as it did previously as Renault's factory team and Benetton before that. It is quite a while now since Flavio Briatore was moved on from the team principal's role but there must be a very strong engineering core inside that outfit.

Bringing back 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, after two years in the world rally championship and unwanted by Ferrari, is looking a masterstroke.

Romain Grosjean is the first French driver to have made an F1 podium this century.

The re-emergence of Lotus means there are five teams capable of winning GPs. And we continue to see wonders from middle-ranking teams.

In Bahrain the highly-regarded Paul Di Resta gave Force India-Mercedes a brilliant sixth place, close behind the previous week's victor Nico Rosberg in a factory Mercedes. Sauber, Williams and Toro Rosso have had moments of brilliance too.

In Bahrain 22-year-old Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified one of the Toro Rossos sixth, while Webber qualified his Red Bull third... Two Aussies in the top quarter of the grid!

Ricciardo's hopes of translating his best starting position into a big points haul were shot early as he lost a swag of places on the opening lap.

"The opening lap changed my whole race -- my launch off the line wasn't great and after that I seemed to go backwards, which made for a very frustrating afternoon," he said. "I got some front wing damage, which made matters worse... I had a good chance to have a strong race, but losing all those places at the start cost me dear.

"I need to be hard on myself now and find out what I did wrong to make sure I don't do it again. It was a race to forget."

Ricciardo was classified 15th at the end -- one place behind young French teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, who had been eliminated in the first section of Saturday's qualifying.

Webber continues to be quietly content with his start to this championship, even though Vettel outshone him for the first time this season.

"I didn't have KERS [kinetic energy recovery system] for the first lap, so it was difficult to put pressure on Lewis Hamilton [who had qualified alongside Vettel on the front row], but then I got it back," Webber said. "In the first two stints, I couldn't stay with the two Lotus' and Seb, so I had to consolidate from there.

"Lotus has a tidy car and, when everything comes together, it works well -- they did a good job and it shows how tight the championship is... I got some good points again and both us drivers and Red Bull Racing are doing well in the championships.

"It wasn't the most exciting race for me, but it's been a good start to the championship... I'm looking forward to getting back to racing in Europe [at the Spanish GP in Barcelona on the second weekend of May]."

While his results might look unspectacular, Webber's consistency could yet yield rich reward if he can complement them with some of the winning form he has displayed previously -- particularly in 2010.

Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet), Matt Kenseth (Ford), Greg Biffle (Ford), Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet), Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet), Kasey Kahne (Chevrolet), Carl Edwards (Ford) and Kyle Busch (Toyota) completed the top 10.

Biffle leads the series on 312 points, Truex has 297, Kenseth 295, Earnhardt 291 and Hamlin 289, while Ambrose is 21st on 187.

Image: markwinterbottom.com

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