...and it is clear that the new V8 engines are much more fragile compared to their V10 predecessors. We have seen a shoal of engine problems and failures in practice and qualifying (Felipe Massa changed 2 engines), and today there were at least two spectacular blow-ups in the race (first Nico Rosberg, then Nick Heidfeld) where in both cases fragments of the engine internals were seen exiting the rear of the car.
It would not surprise me if a number of teams are prepared to take the 10-place grid penalty and change questionable engines early in the season. As the old saying goes, to finish first you first have to finish.
Oh, the race...well, Renault are looking awfully good right now. They have both reliability and speed. On the basis of today's results, so do Ferrari; both Massa and Schumacher started way down the field because of their engine maladies, but the cars finished 5th and 6th.
Williams and Cosworth clearly have reliability problems (Mark Webber retired with what was officially described as a transmission issue), as do Red Bull. The exact race pace of McLaren today was obscured by the early demise of Kimi Raikkonen. Juan Montoya finished a solid fourth, but had a quiet race. Honda look to be just short of winning pace at present. Rubens Barrichello had an odd race, in that he seemed unable to move forward at any speed, unlike Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard, both of whom moved forward rapidly in the race and ran together outside the top 10, before DC retired with his car stuck in 6th gear. Some key operational aspects of the Red Bull RB02 are not fully sorted at present.
Toyota once again looked very poor in the race; Ralf Schumacher's eighth place finish owed a lot to attrition. The car cannot use its tyres properly, and heads may start to roll at Toyota if the pace of the cars does not improve significantly in the next 2-3 races. With nearly $2bn spent, there has to be a scapegoat, possibly in the form of departed chief designer Gustav Brunner...
Toro Rosso looked fairly good (as mid-field cars go) and Scott Speed seemed to be quicker than Vitantonio Liuzzi all weekend. Unfortunately he had to retire his car with a hydraulics problem. Red Bull and Toro Rosso must be praying that Adrian Newey can come up with some interim fixes for both car packages.
Takuma Sato actually matched the race pace of the Midlands and was scrapping with them for much of the race. Midland may yet find themselves propping up the field by mid-year, since the new Super Aguri car is bound to be quicker than their current interim car (which is based on a 2002 Arrows monocoque, which badly compromises both suspension and aero).