It’s been a year since my last proper Formula 1 entry. That of course does not mean I haven’t followed this year’s races all the way from every Q1 to the every checkered flag, I just haven’t had the time to bother you with my F1 ramblings.

Here’s a quick recap of the 2011 season so far: Renault’s Robert Kubica was seriously injured in a rally crash even before the season started and whether or not he will ever return to F1 is being decided these days. The first race of the season, in Bahrain, was canceled because of the political situation in the country at the time. Pirelli is providing the tires this year. The introduction of DRS has proven absolutely genius in terms of the number of overtakes per race, but some argue that overtaking is now actually too easy on some tracks. Hamilton and Massa has not been too focused on racing this year, but far more interested in playing bumper cars and then throwing crap at each other after each race. Hamilton is pretty sure he gets penalized for his actions on the track because he’s black. Alonso is still the driver that never, ever gives up. Michael Schumacher’s F1 comeback is still a failure and anyone has yet to be surprised about that. There are some really interesting, young and up-and-coming drivers on the grid this year, like Paul Di Resta and Sergio Perez. And even though there are four races left, Red Bull’s German wonder boy Sebastian Vettel has already secured the world championship title, making him the youngest ever double World Champion and also the youngest back-to-back Champion.

The speed, the technology, the cars, the drivers, the drama and the potential for massive crashes! How is it possible not to love this sport?

I’ve been watching the racing on BBC One this year, which proved to be a very welcome change from the horrific coverage on Norwegian pay TV. The only issue is that the commentators are retired British F1 drivers, and this naturally makes them very biased towards the British drivers, especially Lewis Hamilton, whom I can’t stand for no apparent reason - although the “maybe it’s because I’m black” statement didn’t do anything in his favor. To a certain degree I can understand Hamilton’s frustration. He entered the F1 world as a kid and went almost straight to the top, but this season has been one of his weakest so far. This weekend, however, he’s on pole in the Korean Grand Prix, with Martin Brundle and David Coulthard in the BBC circle jerk commentary box claiming that “the old Hamilton is back”. We’ll see if a single pole is what will bring the old Hamilton back, but with the speed he’s had this weekend it’s likely that he’ll be the first to cross the checkered flag, though.

Since the Formula 1 site is still kind enough to allow me to generate high quality versions of all the pictures they publish, here are a few snapshots from the 2011 Formula 1 season so far.