I decided to watch my 2010 F1 Review DVD this weekend. Thought, given how boring the second half of this year has been, I'd like to watch some vintage F1. OK, recent vintage, but vintage none the less.
2010 was the year when Webber made his....Mark....gettit, by winning in Monaco and at Silverstone, amongst a couple of others. We had teammates fighting all over the shop with Jenson unsettling Lewis by winning two of the first four races for his new team. We had Webber and Vettel literally driving each other off the road as well as swapping front wings etc. Ferrari binned the "no team orders" rule by cunningly disguising their order to Massa to make way for Alonso. Good one...Rob Smedley didn't beat around the bush there!
5 guys going for the world title - you could probably take that down to four after the brilliant GP at Spa which saw "The Crash Kid" Vettel lose control of his car and nerf Button out (of the race and title contention).
4 guys going into the last race with a mathmatical chance of the title. A truly great season.
Back to 2013.
Will I even bother watching the next race? The only reason I watched the last one was a Webber pole and the hope he may produce a last victory before retirement.
I recently put to my co-blogger that a leading candidate for driver of the year has to be Romain Grosjean.
OK, there are others who are deserving of such a brilliant award given by me.
Sutil, who has made DiResta look stupid at various times through 2013, especially the first race in Australia when after a year out, he was amongst the leading cars for a good while.
Rosberg - you would easily say he has more than held his own against Hamilton. There was a big hoohaa about JB going to Mclaren to join Lewis. OK, qualifying forget about it, but over the course of three years in terms of wins and points JB and Lewis were more or less equal. Rosberg looks just as fast as Lewis frankly, over one lap and the race, where Lewis has a lot more problems looking after his tyres. Rosberg has been best of the rest (outside the Red Bulls) for the last couple of races now.
Hulkenberg. Has driven some stonking races this year, often keeping much quicker cars behind him for long periods. A great racer and future champion surely.
Alonso? Look at the drivers championship. He is still second. The Ferrari, you could say is probably the 4th outright quickest car after Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus.
I'm naming Grosjean as my driver of the year though. From the worst season in anyones career for a long time in 2012, crashing into anybody and everybody on more than a few occasions, to being a consistent podium finisher from race to race now - that's a terrific turnaround and fair play to him for sorting himself out.
He has clearly become the lead driver for Lotus, and with Kimi leaving they are treating him as such - encouraging him to go get Kimi when he was just in front in a race.
Some may say that Grosjean's rise has coincided with Kimi signing for Ferrari and perhaps taking his foot off the gas, not being paid etc etc. Perhaps. But Grosjean has shown a real maturity in his driving this year, particularly the second half where he has become a serial podium offender and with the right car again, with Hulkenberg is a future world champion surely.
Team leader at Lotus next year is Grosjean. I am excited to see how he copes and how he does.
Roll on 2014 F1. This second half of the year has been dull!!!!!!!!!!! If we all know who will win before it starts, why watch? I am asking myself more and more at the moment.
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