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Meanwhile, in Shanghai

Quite frankly, I'm astonished that Phil hasn't linked this story yet, so I'll do it for him!

Mexican GP to replace Valencia in 2013

Quite frankly, I'm astonished that Phil hasn't linked this story yet, so I'll do it for him!

Mexican GP to replace Valencia in 2013

I personally find it humorous that Schumacher went through his career largely with extraordinary reliability in an era of unreliability, while he's now having an unreliable car in a period of extraordinary reliability

Anyway, back to the point. The only thing I don't like is when DRS is just ridiculous. Turkey and Canada last year were two examples. If the DRS zone is on the back straight next weekend it's going to be silly because there won't be any skill involved. I've maintained since the start of DRS that we need to have the zones on an area of the track that is not the main overtaking point, but may provide one and also close the cars up ahead of the main overtaking point.

I don't think the Pirelli tyres are vastly different than 2011, it's the cars that are. In 2011, you had those with the EBD, those without. That created a large gap between the front and the midfield. Then inside of those leading teams you had a varying level of how the teams could get the EBD to work. Ferrari was comfortably 3rd best, Mercedes 4th. But behind Vettel - whose 2011 was a mixture of a driver and car working in perfect tandem - you had some close racing and some odd positions. This year, the teams are so much closer. The only main difference with the tyres is that they operate effectively for each team in a much shorter temperature range. A swing of 5c will play into the hands of another team. Last year, most teams fell into the same operating window in terms of temperature and therefore effectiveness. In 2012 for some reason, the Red Bull & Lotus works well when it's hot, Mercedes when it's cool not cold and Ferrari when it's warm. I still can't comment on McLaren, because they need to stop cocking up.

As for unpredictability, well we've had Jenson Button (champion), Fernando Alonso (champion), Nico Rosberg (frequently touted as a champion), Sebastian Vettel (champion) and Mark Webber (almost won the 2010 title) win races. The only really, really unusual unexpected results have been Sergio Perez's second, which came through tactical genius and a driver who was outstanding on that day plus Pastor Maldonado's victory. We're not having Marussia or HRT winning.

Another point is that I don't know why everyone is so apeshit about saving tyres in qualifying; the last four winners have won from pole position...

The 2011 season was effectively decided by blown diffusers. The team that had optimised it the best – Red Bull – walked away with the championship, with main rival McLaren only launching a challenge after ditching its fan-tail version for an RBR-style concept on the eve of the campaign.

Ferrari made progress in that area over the year but it was not enough; Renault's season was wrecked by its forward-facing exhausts not allowing it to exploit a proper blown diffuser, and Mercedes GP's basic car concept was not well suited to blown diffusers either. Other teams – like Sauber and Williams – never got the blown diffusers working properly at all and really struggled.

With blown diffuser technology at risk of getting out of control – especially in cost terms as hot blowing got more and more complicated – the FIA acted in the interests of the sport to ban them for 2012.

That ban had two main consequences that have played big parts in what we have seen this year: it helped close the competitive order up, and it has produced cars with less rear downforce, which has had a knock-on effect on tyre performance.

In competitive terms, the one-second advantage that Red Bull Racing enjoyed over the non-blown diffuser opposition was wiped away instantly, in an era where increasingly tight technical regulations make it hard to find such advantages anywhere else on the car.

Teams like Williams and Sauber that really struggled with blown diffusers and had very difficult 2011 campaigns were going to start on a much more level playing field, while Lotus and Mercedes were given a bit of a leg up for their 2012 hopes.

Meanwhile, in Shanghai

I'd laugh if it somehow produced the greatest GP ever seen next month.

The only thing this season is really missing is Robert Kubica. Imagine if he was in the Ferrari alongside Fernando. Man, that'd be cool.

To be honest, I'm not missing him at all. I have been missing him, but now...
I still think that he should have informed his fans about his health back in the past months.