European GP - five things we found out from the weekend

1) Valencia produces habitually poor races

It was supposed to be a street circuit that illuminated the backdrops of its beach and marina, great vantage points to see some F1 cars flying around the Valencia track. But sunbathing would have even provided more entertainment after watching a pitiful race that only had the Alonso/Webber second place fight to thank. The sharp, slow corners yield for good traction, a distinct part of Red Bull's pace, but straights are often curved and are often difficult to position the car for an overtake. There are no fast corners either, but unlike Monaco, the track does not have the decadence nor an iconic section of the track that appeals to the drivers.

Bernie Ecclestone indicated on the BBC one of the two Spanish races - possibly Barcelona - may leave the F1 calender. That could be a rueful decision as the Catalonia racetrack has been a servant to the sport since the 1980s and is possibly provides more of a challenge to the drivers. Lets see how this one unfolds.

2) Red Bull have up to second over the field

The Milton Keynes outfit's advantage is staggering, a clear advantage not seen over the field since Ferrari's dominance from 2001-04. Yesterday's victory from Sebastian Vettel signified utter deflation among his rivals, and even from his teammate Mark Webber, who lies over three race victories behind the German.

The car's key advantage is the off-throttle exhaust gas blowing - an aerodynamic function that blows hot air over the Red Bull's floor and out of the exhaust when not pressing the accelerator - thereby increasing downforce, and consequently, grip. In qualifying the car's potential is maximised with Vettel's pole positions this season are often between 0.5 secs - 0.9 secs. Valencia, a track of few overtaking opportunities, made his car advantage extremely ominous for Ferrari and McLaren as he won the race by around 20 seconds over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Things, however may turn around, as engine mapping (between qualifying and race) and hot exhaust blowing are now banned from Silverstone onwards, the next race. Engine mapping was a useful tool for Red Bull as it allowed them to change settings of how much fuel would be distributed out of its engines.

3) Hamilton is ruffled

Lewis Hamilton's was not his worst. But neither was it a race that extracted the very best of his gifted skills. His McLaren on Sunday was like a dog trapped in a mud as it struggles to gain momentum from a standing spot. Traction was a real headache as Hamilton and Button struggled with rear tyre management. Hamilton lost two positions at the start to the Ferraris, but while he covered off Felipe Massa's threat in the pitstops, Hamilton's pace never matched Webber's nor Alonso's.

The team concentrated in front wing downforce, in hindsight a mistake as a lack of low downforce at the rear punished and overheated their tyres. Silverstone's fast layout will mean rear-tyre degradation will have less factor, a strength of the Red Bull, so it will be interesting to see what new updates McLaren will bring to the table.

4) Button still hasn't mastered qualifying to be a serious title contender

6th on the grid translated into the same position in the race, Jenson Button needs to produce on a Saturday if he is to improve his feint hopes of recapturing his world title he won in 2009.
The reverberating theme is the McLaren is achieving good balance in practice and in the first two parts of qualifying, but cannot replicate the form when it matters on Q3.

His race craft has always shone in changeable conditions, but his form in dry races has been inconsistent. He has been mingling with the Mercedes in during races, rather than the Red Bulls, an indication of his lack of competitiveness. Button made a nice overtaking move on Nico Rosberg early in the Valencia race, but lacked pace to challenge Felipe Massa in 5th.

5) What's the point of having Hispania?

23rd and 24th positions - the lowest ever placed finishes in the history of the sport - belonging to Narain Karthikeyan of Hispania Racing. They are on average 10 seconds a lap off the Red Bulls and it is hard to understand there objectives in the sport. Yes, a 13th and 14th place finishes in the Canadian GP may mean they could climb above the Virgin Marussia team in the Constructors Championship, but it will matter very little if they are unable to challenge the Toro Rossos' or Williams' in the near future.

The team have had financial difficulties arriving onto the scene, and effectively treated qualifying the first F1 race in Australia as a shakedown due to lack of pre-season testing. And during races, the leading drivers have been seen making hand gestures of their obligatory blue flag move-overs. It is hard to see what they do offer as a racing entity.

Button pushes the limit to win Canadian GP

It was a Canadian Grand Prix that was disastrous for one Englishman, but certainly fell in place for another as McLaren's Jenson Button made a storming comeback for his first ever victory at the Gilles Villenenuve circuit.

The 2009 world champion came through from the back, mostly attributing to a collision with his teammate Lewis Hamilton and later with Fernando Alonso, to capitalise on leader Sebastian Vettel's mistake on the final lap when the German slid wide in the Turn 6 chicane.

His miraculous recovery told only half the story from a race that provided chaos from a torrential downpour that delayed a restart of the race by two hours, and several examples of disastrous overtaking attempts throughout the field.

Button was in the mire of the race's talking points, and on Lap 8 and defending sixth place from Lewis Hamilton on the pit straight, deviated towards the pit wall that left Hamilton no room to pass, consequently smashing his left rear axle and therefore retiring despite complaining to his team his car was still fit to continue. Hamilton was also in the wars on Lap 4, the first real racing lap as the race disappointingly started under the safety car, when a failed dive into Turn 1 sent Red Bull driver Mark Webber into a spin as he and Hamilton lost several positions.

With Button taking to the pits to assess the damage and change to intermediate tyres, the safety car made its entrance again to clear debris from the Hamilton incident. As Button was making his way back to the pack he incurred a pit lane penalty for speeding under safety car conditions. With Vettel in control, Webber and particularly Button, were sything their way through. The Brit caught his way up to eighth when a downpour, and subsequently a safety car and red flag, put paid to his progress.

After a two-hour halt waiting for the rain to abate, he restarted back in ninth in hunt of the uncompetitive Fernando Alonso on Lap 34. But the two collided three laps after the restart on the Turn 4 chicane, diving on the inside with Alonso refusing to budge, with Button returning back to the pits for the then fifth time with a puncture left front and a change to inters, and Alonso beaching his car on the high kerb.

The change to intermediates soon galvanised after the safety car intervention from the Lap 37 incident in an drying racetrack. The race evolved to the point where rain tyres quickly became uncompetitive and the likes of Button, Michael Schumacher, Webber were making strong headway with intermediates, and then to the soft slicks. Button surged to fourth until yet another safety car appearance came on Lap 56 when Nick Heidfeld clattered the back of Kamui Kobayashi and dislodging his front wing scarily under braking the following corner. The incident gave Button the opportunity to creep his way towards Webber and Schumacher, passing both using DRS as well as his supreme driving talent in evolving conditions, before pursuing Vettel with only five laps left.

The gap was only three seconds then soon the gap dissolved as Vettel, who was in reasonable comfort at the front the whole race, was a target for a determined Button, who had thought his chances of a strong diminish from the early stages. Vettel on colder tyres than Button's, ruefully dipped his right tyre off the racing line, causing him to slide and agonisingly see his McLaren rival breeze past him to victory.

FIA transfixed by Bahrain money over safety

It seemed as if no one in F1's governing body was oblivious about the Arab Spring. But either way the FIA have their own reputation by reinstating a grand prix that was always going to be impossible to stage. It took a vote from the Formula 1 to cancel the Bahrain race for October to restore sense into a sport that was blinded by Sheikh money.

The naivety of the FIA, especially its president Jean Todt, has been astounding. They are probably up there with the likes of FIFA in the publicity stakes. Figures involved with the sport questioned the decision then. Max Mosley on BBC News said that the race would never materialise because it was up for the teams to decide. And Red Bull driver Mark Webber also was a stern critic for FIA's leniency towards Bahrain, claiming there are no safeguards in terms of protests during the race weekend. Would any spectators be there to see it anyway?

Although the Sakhir circuit looks aesthetically pleasing to the viewing eye while bringing in the lucrative revenues to the sport (It brings in $40m to host the opening race), the Bahrain GP has produced habitually boring races and a lack of attendees. Replacing India's spot would take the gloss off India's efforts to stage the race there. I say lets keep Bahrain off the F1 radar and let India have its glory. Boring Bahrain.

French 2011-12 Jersey

Football kits are never trendy, but kudos to the French national team's sponsor Nike with its Mime Artist design worn here by midfielder Samir Nasri in June 2011.

Rafa reigns supreme in Paris

Nadal and his obligatory trophy celebration in front of world's media (Reuters)

Kevin Mitchell, boxing and tennis writer from the Guardian, gave a great analogy of Sunday's showpiece between Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. "Federer floated like a butterfly, but Nadal stung like a bee". Those words rung truer when reliving some moments of the match when Federer diced with the Spaniard clay master, but was left demoralised by Nadal's punishing forehand. Federer metaphorically was left bloodied and bruised, Rafa celebrated like a Heavyweight Champion of the world.

Nadal won in four sets, but the fashion in which the World No.1 won the first set - coming back from 5-2 down and facing a set point - and racking up five consecutive games meant the match almost had an inevitability thereafter. Federer was good, stunningly good. He mixed up his shots very well and did not show much predictability in his general play. But his mental state gradually became a weakness, with a defeatist attitude in the early half of the match. I didn't have much confidence in him finishing off a point in some stages, even in dominant position to do so such was Nadal's impenetrable aura.

Onto Wimbledon in a couple of weeks. Federer's status as the greatest tennis player that ever lived is a statement that is losing validity. He'll need to win the tournament in July to regain some of his invincibility that we saw in the last eight years, otherwise it may well be a champion slowly heading into decline.