It was just after Sebastian Vettel speared into Jenson Button during Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix that the word ‘impetuous’ sprung to mind, and naturally I lobbed my thought at Twitter. I wasn’t alone in having that thought.

It wasn’t long before Martin Brundle used the word to describe Vettel in the BBC commentary. Then after the race it was Ron Dennis’s turn, and James Allen applied generous coatings of the word yesterday, in writing about Vettel.

So Martin Whitmarsh may have labelled Vettel the ‘Crash Kid’, but is impetuous more accurate? I thought I’d get a definition:

1. Acting or done quickly and without thought or care
2. Moving forcefully or rapidly

You couldn’t hope for a more perfectly apt description of Vettel at the weekend, could you? He acted quickly without thought or care; and moved forcefully and rapidly.

Impetuous: a lovely, snug fit of a word.

Well that was certainly a Belgian Grand Prix, wasn’t it? Rain and everything.

The Good

• It started very well, with an action-packed first lap. It was almost too much to take on board, so I’m not sure I retained any of it. Breathless.
• The relative strengths of different cars were nicely highlighted. Some of the best examples were between Liuzzi in the Force India, which loves the straights, and Vettel’s Red Bull Racing, which delights in the fast corners. Vettel first took Liuzzi, then Liuzzi took the place back. Great stuff.
• Lewis Hamilton was pretty excellent, particularly when he went into the gravel on slick tyres as the rain started to come down late in the race, but managed to keep it moving and out of the tyre barrier. A well deserved victory.

The Bad

• Very bad luck for Rubens Barrichello, celebrating his 300th race, who got caught out by a spot of rain early on and took himself out of the race when he smacked into Alonso.
• Fernando Alonso had better luck, coming away from that virtually unscathed. He was less fortunate in the rain later though, spinning out of the race all on his own.
• Jenson Button was another man to suffer in the wet conditions, but through no fault of his own: it was Vettel who lost control trying to overtake Button, but it was Button who went out of the race.
• It was Sebastian Vettel’s fault, but I think it’s harsh to say that he was dangerous or stupid. He was just impetuous: which Martin Brundle agreed with in the commentary not long after I tweeted words to that effect. But he’s been impetuous too many times – and his puncture later on from hitting Liuzzi while trying to overtake was probably another case – and he’s throwing away the championship.
• So three title contenders not scoring points. I can’t decide whether that’s a bad thing or not for the championship. It’s still close, and that’s the main thing.

The Ugly

• It wasn’t pleasant watching Nico Hulkenberg trying to keep his car on the track on slick tyres when the rain started bucketing down. It was a gamble, and a gamble that didn’t pay off.
• Mercedes GP was as grey as ever, though slightly less ugly when being overtaken by the colourful Force India.

We expect to see Red Bull Racing, McLaren and Ferrari at the pointy end of the Formula 1 practice time sheets, and so it has been today at Spa. But they never have it all to themselves, so who are the interlopers this weekend?

Sauber has been constantly improving all season, and this morning Kamui Kobayashi set the 8th fastest time, and his team mate Pedro de la Rosa did the same this afternoon.

The other men shoving their noses into the top 8 were Robert Kubica (3rd in P1, 4th in P2) and Adrian Sutil (5th in P1, 2nd in P2).

That’s by no means uncommon for Kubica, and his rookie Renault team mate Vitaly Petrov improved from 17th this morning to 11th this afternoon. It’ll be disappointing if Petrov doesn’t keep his drive for at least another year.

It’s different over at Force India. Giancarlo Fisichella nearly won the race last year, and though there have been changes to the car since then, it still seems to like a low downforce track. Then there’s Sutil, who’s been pretty consistent this season, but more importantly is a noted regenmeister – and the weather in Belgium has been more than a little damp. A good combination, then.

Which leaves us with Sutil’s team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, who managed 15th and 16th fastest times in today’s sessions. So far this year he’s amassed 12 points; Sutil has 35. Liuzzi isn’t a rookie. And Force India have given Paul di Resta regular runs in practice sessions this year. It doesn’t look good, does it?

Back to this weekend, Alonso topped both practice sessions today. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sutil and Kubica on the podium if it’s an extreme wet race. Let’s hope so, eh?

Nine teams have scored points in Formula 1 so far this year. The three that haven’t are, of course, 2010′s new teams: Lotus, Virgin Racing and HRT. So how do you rank them, if they’ve scored no points?

The way the constructors’ championship does it is by best result. As autosport.com explains, that puts Lotus top (13th), followed by HRT (14th twice) and Virgin (a single 14th).

So that, I suppose, is the correct answer. But is it the fairest reflection of performance over a season? Probably not.

One alternative is to pretend that the established teams don’t exist, and award regular championship points to just the new teams. Everything F1 has done that, and again you end up with Lotus on top, then HRT, and Virgin last.

I’m not sure that’s right either though: the rewards seem too great for just finishing the race.

Let’s have a look at the order the new team drivers have finished in so far this season, from the classified finishing positions, white background representing a non-finish.

It’s hard to argue that Lotus isn’t top of the new teams. So don’t try it, sunshine.

But it’s not so clear cut between Virgin and HRT. Clearly Virgin suffered most from unreliability for the first four races or so, but since then, they’ve generally finished ahead of HRT, when both teams have finished.

Let’s adopt a points system, and see if we can quantify that: one point for a classified finish, and one point for every driver you finish ahead of. Again, data from here.

That, to me, feels about right. Lotus come out comfortably on top, then it’s close between Virgin and HRT, but Virgin edge it.

I think it’s a fair reflection of the drivers too. Heikki Kovalainen is deservingly top of the new team drivers – under this and the other two classifications. Apart from in Britain, when he’s finished, he’s been the first one home. Which is about all you can ask for, really.

Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock come out equal second on points, followed very closely by Karun Chandhok. It’s Chandhok second under the other two classifications, chiefly because he’s only failed to finish two of his races. Clearly second best of the new team drivers is a tough call to make.

But what is clear, is that Bruno Senna suffered the brunt of HRT’s unreliability, retiring from six of the first eight races, only one of those after an accident. That’s left him ahead only of HRT ‘super sub’ – for want of a more accurate term – Sakon Yamamoto; and adrift of Lucas di Grassi, who’s been pretty respectable for Virgin.

While it’s fun, of sorts, to debate relative performance at the back of the grid, that all important 10th place in the constructors’ championship – and the money it brings – could well come down to a fluke result for one of the teams in a crash-packed race. Not terribly satisfying, but that’s life.

This comeback hasn’t been easy for Michael Schumacher, but at least one of his previous positions has been restored: the most hated man in Formula 1. For the summer break, at least.

After some very strong whinging this season, and of course the team orders in Germany, Fernando Alonso looked like he had that particular title tied up for the foreseeable future. This presumably riled Schumacher, so he had to dig deep.

At the Hungarian Grand Prix today, he did just that. His victim had to be one of the paddocks most enduring characters. Rubens Barrichello satisfied that, but also added an entire museum-worth of history, Barrichello having lived in Schumacher’s shadow – often so unnecessarily and unfairly – at Ferrari. Plus, Barrichello is quite an emotional chap. The perfect choice, then.

The move itself – basically pushing an overtaking Barrichello into the pit wall – was textbook Schumacher. And all for just one championship point. Thankfully that point ended up Barrichello’s. The videos of the incident, and interviews with both men, on the BBC website are utterly perfect.

Schumacher has received a ten place grid penalty for the next race, as the stewards judged he had “illegitimately impeded car 9 during an overtaking manoeuvre”.

I’d translate that as: Schumacher got the penalty for being a shit.

The United States Grand Prix now has not only a specified site for the circuit (see right), but also a big name financial backer.

And what a name: Red McCombs. Even better, his real name is Billy Joe McCombs – you don’t get more brilliantly American than that. And he’s sometimes referred to as BJ McCombs, if you fancy some particularly immature smirking. Which I frequently do.

Amongst the American sports teams McCombs has owned, the Denver Nuggets (NBA) are a particular highlight. It’s just a very good word: nugget. Here’s hoping they give turn one the name ‘Nugget’. Commentators talking about “the run from the start down into Nugget” would be a thing to cherish. One more time: nugget.

And of course this is all in addition to Tavo Hellmund, the man putting the whole project together. Another first rate name, and no mistake.

Formula 1’s return to the USA came a little closer to reality yesterday, with details revealed of the site, and chief financial backer, of the future United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

Since one of the items released was a PDF map of the site, I thought I’d make it a little more helpful, and map it on Google Maps (bigger version):

Rest assured, that’s an outline of the site, not Hermann Tilke’s early draft of a circuit layout.

So, team orders are back in the news. And with the FIA World Motor Sport Council due to look at Ferrari’s actions at the German Grand Prix, they’re set to stay in the news. Oh joy.

How does Formula 1 keep getting into this mess? The standard argument is that it’s a team sport, so team orders are unavoidable. I agree. The problem comes, I believe, when team orders are issued in the heat of competition.

Felipe Massa being told, while leading the race, that he had to give the place to Fernando Alonso, was never going to go down well. Had Massa known, before the race, that he’d never be allowed to lead his team mate – assuming he didn’t, of course – then perhaps the place could have been swapped a little more seamlessly.

But that would have meant telling Massa, in only the middle of the season, that his role is now to support Alonso, not go for the championship himself. Which is a tough conversation to justify. It’s easier to get Massa’s engineer to tell him to move over in the middle of a race, as and when required. Quite cowardly on the part of Ferrari management though, isn’t it?

Take MotoGP: with no radio communications during the race, any team move has to be orchestrated between the riders alone, knowing what the team expects of them, and they can generally do it in a more acceptable manner. And only later in the season, when that conversation is more justifiable. Unless it’s Yamaha, who wouldn’t even try to have that conversation with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

It’s a similar story in the World Rally Championship: there was uproar when Sebastien Ogier was used in the heat of the moment to benefit Sebastien Loeb at Rally Jordan. But Ford and Citroen both have established number two drivers, and that’s not really a problem.

The rule of thumb should be: if you can’t rationally discuss team orders in advance, and come to an agreement with all concerned, then they’re probably not justifiable. If you go ahead anyway, half-arsed in the heat of the moment, then you’re going to piss off the fans.

Not sure exactly how the FIA can phrase that in the rule book, though.

The German Grand Prix was supposed to be a storming race, according to all the previews. It wasn’t, really.

The Good

• Felipe Massa sailing into the lead from third on the grid. Pole man Sebastian Vettel put all his efforts into pushing Alonso towards the pit wall, which messed the start up for both of them.
• Jenson Button looking after his tyres in the first stint, and staying out longer, provided a lot of the early interest, as he was faster than the drivers who had pitted. He only managed to leapfrog one driver as a result – Webber – but it was good stuff nonetheless.
• Rob Smedley. Always Rob Smedley. Lovely, northern Rob Smedley. Massa’s race engineer giving him encouraging words that he “can win” as he led the race.

The Bad

• Fernando Alonso, king of the whingers, who at one point told the team, “this is ridiculous”. What, being beaten by your team mate?
• And so it was that Massa couldn’t win. The Ferrari men took turns at being fastest at various points, but ultimately it came down to the team deeming Alonso to be faster overall. Smedley’s words to Massa were heartbreaking:
  

  “Okay. So. Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?”

  And after Alonso made the ‘move’ on Massa:

  “Okay mate. Good lad. Just stick with it now. Sorry.”

  It made sense for the team, of course, but no-one likes to see it. Especially when it’s Alonso benefiting.

• Smedley did his best to console Massa on the radio after the race, describing Massa as “magnanimous”, then saying he’d explain what it means later. But none of the men on the podium – Alonso, Massa and Vettel – were as jubilant as you’d expect to see. Which isn’t exactly great for the sport. At all.

The Ugly

• Team orders utterly dominating the aftermath isn’t helpful, is it? Inevitable, but rubbish. It looks bad. Bad bad bad!
• So that might be investigated by the FIA. So too might flexible wings. Almost makes you ashamed to be a Formula 1 fan, doesn’t it?
• And even at its home race, the grey Mercedes GP car was still oh so very grey.

At least there’s a MotoGP race tonight. Let’s hope there’s some actual racing at Laguna Seca!

I sometimes wonder what sponsors get out of motorsport. In the BTCC, for example, there are a lot of ‘trade’ sponsors – like Pirtek, a “fluid transfer solutions” company. But it’s by no means always about selling to Johnny Armchair watching at home: there are considerations for business-to-business opportunities, hospitality and that sort of jazz. Apparently.

As a broker on the foreign exchange markets, you wouldn’t assume that FxPro would directly market to the regular motorsport fan. But they seem to be – and that intrigues me.

Their branding is all over the World Rally Championship, and admittedly the concept of Miss FxPro 2010 isn’t exactly crediting the public with a great deal of intelligence.

But their Formula 1 activities are a little more interesting. Most obviously, they sponsor Virgin Racing. To complement that, they launched the FxPro Currency Race, with F1-related prizes up for grabs. It’s quite clever: you choose the pair of currencies to trade, and your little F1 car’s performance is based on how that trade performs in real time.

It’s a touch bizarre as a game. It’s effective though: not only does it promote the brand, but it teaches the punter what foreign exchange trading is all about – presumably in the hope that they’ll indulge in a little of it with FxPro. And that is crediting the public with a bit of intelligence – which is to be encouraged.