Jonathan Noble: Online

Watching Scuderia Toro Rosso technical director Giorgio Ascanelli walking to the grid shortly before the Valencia race on Sunday, you just knew from the wide grin etched on his face what he was thinking.

He was loving the fact that F1's first venture into its brave new world of street circuits gave us a glimpse of how old school brainpower still has room to triumph in the end.

The way that Sebastian Vettel with the fairly small Scuderia Toro Rosso team upstaged some of the big guns to prove that solid engineering, a feel for racing, and a bit of trust and intelligence can overcome expensive simulation work and the might of computer boffins, was great to see.

Sebastian Vettel inspects the Valencia street circuit © XPB

In the build-up to the first race around Valencia, a lot of the grid had spent time in simulators getting to know the track.

Some teams used their own facilities to varying levels of success depending on the complications of their system. And to make you realise how seriously the teams take getting their simulations spot on, one team even sent their own surveyor to Valencia to ensure their model was 100 per cent accurate.

Some drivers used third party systems, like Nick Wirth's Wirth Research facility in Bicester to try out the track, so at least they were not venturing into a total unknown.

And Vettel? He was handed a map of the track, some data figures about gears and speeds, and then did what he does for most tracks. Goes to www.youtube.com and typed in: Valencia Street Circuit On board.

"It's very easy," smiled the German as he explained his preparations. "Most of the time you get something interesting to watch!"

The lack of prior knowledge meant Vettel and his teammate Sebastien Bourdais had to complete a lot of laps in Friday practice - and both, with their recent experience of street circuits outside of Monaco, knew that it was better for them to get to understand the changing track conditions than try and chase the setup with it.

So lap, and lap, and lap they did on Friday, even being the first to try out new tyres. And through it all they tinkered little with a setup they felt comfortable with - well aware the track was changing so much there was little point in losing car confidence to make a change that may or may not work.

So while computer boffins and simulation work elsewhere in the pit lane was telling some teams what may or may not happen to the track, and why such and such a setup needed changing, Ascanelli kept his old school racing hat on and stayed with the conviction of his drivers.

He knew as well as them that there was more time to be gained from confident drivers able to find the limit on how the track was at a particular point with changes in the setup that they wanted, than from a slightly better setup suggested by a computer that may be theoretically a few tenths better.

And driver confidence mattered more in Valencia where the variation in track conditions was more extreme than any other track on the calendar because of the dust and sand that marred the first day's running.

Some teams would have been better going the Toro Rosso way, keeping things fairly standard and listening to the drivers - especially Red Bull Racing whose problems caused by a down-on-power Renault engine were compounded by the wrong gear ratio choice that they were locked into for the weekend.

Sebastian Vettel at speed in the first chicane © LAT

But we all enjoyed seeing Vettel get so much from a Toro Rosso-Ferrari package that is really clicking at the moment

Of course, in 12 month's time, the mass of data that the boffin teams have will be able to overcome pure racing instincts in extracting more lap time - as they do at any track where there are reams of testing data or previous racing knowledge.

But for once, it was good to see a bit of natural brainpower coming out on top. And I will leave you with the words of Robert Kubica, another man who did not try out Valencia on a simulator beforehand and seemed to suffer little because of it.

"I have never been in a simulator which is good, so I have no idea if it's helpful for the driver or for the team," he explained. "From what I hear, it sounds better for the engineers than the drivers to try new stuff."

I wonder if Ascanelli would agree.