F1 2014 - Final blog of the year

Justin:

Well, the "title showdown" turned out to be a damp squib in terms of Rosberg and Hamilton going at it to the death.

The race itself was pretty dull, as most in Abu Dhabi are. The title was decided at the start when Lewis made an amazing start and Rosberg bogged down.

Rosberg was very gracious in defeat and wounds seemed to have healed for now between the two men.

Nico himself said that he didn't want people to talk about his ERS failure, as it wouldn't have made a difference anyway as Lewis was leading and going well at the time.

Spa - The turning point

The drivers championship was won and lost in Spa, rather after Spa. However much Lewis said he came out ready for war after this, one could easily say that Nico lost his mental edge in the fallout.

His team completely blamed him for what in my mind was a mere racing incident. They fined him and told him off rather publicly. Add to that the fans opening and happily booing him. It clearly affected him. His races were littered with errors after Spa.

By the time he'd pulled himself together again with an absolutely sterling race weekend in Brazil, it was all probably to little too late to stop the Hamilton Juggernaut.

Both guys will come back stronger next year, but I expect Nico to run Lewis even closer than 2014. You heard it hear first. Nico Rosberg - 2015 World Champion!

Driver of the year

I've already mentioned Bottas and Ricciardo as clear contenders. Obviously Hamilton is clear choice for the award, but maybe that's too easy given he won the title?

Lewis has shown a certain level of maturity in his driving and attitude outside the car this year.

Motorsport magazine actually had Alonso as their driver of the year, and that is hard to argue with. Ok, there were no headline grabbing wins and just one podium. The Ferrari he is driving this year is the worst car he has had in his 5 years there and yet he still drags performances out of it that his team-mate gets nowhere near to. It was the 4th, possibly even 5th fastest car at times this year. Ok, Kimi struggled with balancing the car all year, but Alonso absolutely destroyed Kimi 16-3 in terms of races done better in (the best out of all the teams). You'd say Massa kept Alonso on his toes more than Kimi.

1. Daniel Ricciardo
2. Bottas/ Hamilton
3. Alonso
4. Rosberg
5. Button

Damp Squib of the year

One word. Vettel.
Possibly one of the naffest title defences in history. Ok, you don't have the best car to win the title, but at least get a race win or two. No? Get trashed by your team-mate and run away? Ok then.

The true greats always adapt. Vettel has to go to Ferrari and blow Kimi away, that should be the first thing on his to do list.

Squabble of the year

Erm, any overtakes involving Ricciardo. That dude can race!!

Also, the Alonso vs Vettel duel at Silverstone. Epic! Even more epic were the verbals over the radio.



To 2015 we go. We hope to see JB still at McLaren alongside Alonso next season - that could be fun. Alonso...doing a deal with the devil that is Dennis again.....hmmmmmm.

I need to purchase some Alonso/ McLaren merchandise, whenever they get around to announcing it.

Enjoy the next 3 months with no F1 :-(. Time for an F1 book and the review of the year dvd.

A picture, as Fernando Alonso leaves Ferrari after 5 years, of one of the many memorable moments he had there.... a win in the wet in Malaysia in 2012 (pic from bbc I think).

If he reads this, I invite my esteemed co-blogger to reply.

Unquestionably....it's time to blog again...

Justin:

Sunday 5 October 2014:

A lot has happened since I last blogged in April.

I have to start with today in Japan. We were given a brutal reminder that, despite people saying F1 is too safe these days, it's still a very dangerous sport.

We await news of how Jules Bianchi is doing.

In a dark day for F1, it was announced that Andrea de Cesaris has sadly passed away aged 55.

I had a huge blog planned, reviewing the championship battle between the Mercedes duo, the driver market musical chairs kicking off with Vettel announcing he is to leave Red Bull, where Alonso could be headed, Nigel Mansell thinking everything is fantastic....

Sunday 12 October 2014: 

At the start of the year I tipped Rosberg for the title, and up until recently I still stood by my tip.

Now I am not as sure.

He could still do it. 17 points behind Lewis is not a huge gap. One DNF for Lewis and it all changes again. That said, the momentum is clearly with Lewis now. 4 wins on the spin and a frankly crushing victory in Russia today means he has 9 wins this season to 4 for Rosberg.

Whenever they go wheel to wheel, Rosberg seems to bottle it. He is super quick, as proved by him having more poles than Hamilton this year. He is a great racer, as proved by his many a drives this season, and indeed his recovery drive today from the back to second.

It just seems Lewis has the clear upper hand when they are both near each other on track. Rosberg lunged for the move today and didn't make it stick via locking his tyres and flat-spotting them. Race over in terms of going for the win. In Japan he soaked up the pressure from Lewis pretty well as Lewis stalked him for 30 laps before that ridiculous move around the outside of turn 1.

These two have given us drama, fighting, politics, ruthlessness, falling out and great racing all year. I hope it goes to the wire, but in many ways I very much hope that the stupid double points doesnt change the destiny of this years world drivers title.

Mercedes wrapped up their first ever constructors title today. When they were winning in the 50's, there was no constructors title to fight for.

Rosberg and Hamilton were united in seeming really pleased and happy for the team. Rosberg said he was extremely disappointed on one hand, for his mistake at the start, but happy for the team etc.

USA is next, a track where Lewis excels. I expect another Hamilton win there, with Rosberg second, taking the points gap to 25 with two to go.

Driver of the year?? 
It is a very close call between Ricciardo and Bottas. Bottas has 6 podiums this year now, 4 in a row now I believe? He looked close to the Mercedes duo in qualifying and had pole within his grasp.

But I think Ricciardo shades it for me. Simply outstanding all year. End of discussion. He has effectively dumped Vettel out of his own team, stripped him of his number one status and sent him running away to Ferrari.

Musical chairs
Vettel has announced he is to leave Red Bull, but not announced where he is off to. Christian Horner has been on record saying it's Ferrari who have offered Vettel a lot of money to go.

Everyone was expecting Alonso to announce something first, this triggering the merry-go-round, but Ferrari have blinked first by signing Vettel...but they have not announced it yet.

Rumour is that Alonso approached Mercedes a few months ago and Ferrari viewed this as him not being committed for the future. Fair enough really. However, Ferrari have said it will be at least 2 years before they get on top of the current shambles they are in. Alonso is 33 now and he is hungry for more world titles.

Has he backed himself into a corner? Perhaps. Mclaren Honda is his rumoured destination, but they themselves may not be winning straight away. It's a roll of the dice, but certainly you could argue he won't be any worse off than he is now a Ferrari really. 

Anything could happen in F1 though. Could Ferrari dump Kimi again and keep Alonso alongside Vettel?

This does not sit well with me....but another rumour is Alonso taking a year off with a view to a top drive in 2016. For someone like Alonso though, surely this is the last option to take, with F1 racing in his blood he is widely acknowledged as the best on the grid (after the 2012 season 9 out of 11 team bosses voted for him as the very best on the grid).

To Austin we go in 3 weeks!


 

Tough luck!

Justin:

Teammate battles are becoming very intriguing this year, more so than any season that I can recall in recent times. Three battles in particular are proving the most interesting to me thus far...

Mercedes
Hamilton is seemingly burying Rosberg at the moment, with three wins on the spin. Bahrain was amazing in terms of these two dueling for the lead for the entire race. In China Hamilton was utterly dominant where Rosberg never really got going. Nico had all sorts of technical problems on the grid and it was a great recovery drive to limit the points loss damage to Lewis. Three poles so far for Lewis, three wins from four. It will be interesting to see how Rosberg does in Spain and whether he can cease the runaway express that is an on-song Hamilton.

Ferrari
The one driver lineup that everyone thought was going to explode first hasn't, and doesnt really show any signs of doing so. Kimi is uncomfortable with the car and is generally struggling at the moment. Alonso drove the car off it's wheels in China to a great third place. The true all time greats find ways of adapting their driving to get the best out of a not so great car or a car that is not to their liking. Alonso does this - see 2012 as just one example. Drivers such as Kimi and JB are awesome on their day when the car is just right. If it's slightly off, then usually so are they. We'll see what happens when Kimi comes back.

Red Bull
That's twice in four races now that Red Bull have asked Vettel to move aside for Ricciardo. Oh dear. Ricciardo is blowing Vettel away a bit at the moment. He is getting on better with car whilst Vettel struggles to adapt to the new regulations. Vettel has gone on record as saying that yep, Daniel is doing a better job, plain and simple. How does that really sit with a four time world champion? Not well I'd expect. We've already had a flash of that Vettel petulance on the radio...."Daniel is behind you, he stopped later.."......"Tough luck!". A flash of that thinking that says he is bigger than the team once again.

I think this situation will explode soon if Vettel doesnt start putting the new guy firmly in his place.

Alonso made a remark at the end of last year that if when Vettel has an average car, same as the rest, or a car he doesnt get on with very well....if he comes 5th, 7th, 8th, then these four world titles are even worse news for Vettel and how people view him.

He was king of the exhaust-blown era, but that is all gone now. Can he adapt? Is he a true all-time great?


It's not just these three....Williams....Massa Vs Bottas.....Force India...Hulk vs Perez....it's kicking off all over the grid this year and I love it!!

Now...where was I?

Justin:

Two rounds gone, two wins for Mercedes. It seems the rumours were bang on the money before the season started. Mercedes have gotten themselves a huge gap and the title race will seemingly be fought between Nico and Lewis.

F1 2014
Is a new beast. It is an engine formula now, with aerodynamics taking a backseat. Mercedes have the best engine by far, hence even if the Red Bull is the fastest car in certain corners and is more aerodynamically efficient etc, the Mercedes engine still has more grunt. With horsepower to spare and the Renault engines having serious reliability issues, I find it difficult to see where another winner will come from at least until we get back to Europe or a wet race before then.

Ferrari
Pains me to say it, but the Ferrari does not look that fast. Alonso pretty much started 4th and finished 4th in both races, making no notable superfast overtakes aside from on Hulkenberg at the end of Malaysia (Hulk's tyres were shot to pieces). It's easier to make a fast car reliable, than to make a reliable car fast. The Ferrari is reliable, but looks to be the third fastest car behind Mercedes and Red Bull...at best.

Domination - Nico vs Lewis
It's early days, but you'd be silly not to put fair cash on either of the Mercedes drivers being champion in 2014. At least there are two people dominating right now, as opposed to just Vettel in the second half of 2013 - though I must say the Malaysian race was pretty boring!!

I am still going with my instinct and sticking with Nico for the title. People are saying Hamilton thrashed him at Sepang and that Nico wouldnt have won had Lewis not retired in Oz. Well, the latter we'll never know. The former - Nico seemed happy enough with second in Sepang. Just like JB accepted when he was at McLaren with Lewis, there will be days when Lewis absolutely knocks you out of the park. It's what you do on the days he doesnt that matters. Over a season, I think it's going to be a very close run thing between these two.

Felipe - Valtteri is faster than you
I sympathise with Massa here. Surely Williams will understand where he was coming from on ignoring team orders.

Hulkenberg
How has this guy not go a top drive? He was awesome in Malaysia.

New sound
I still miss the V8 roar, especially when they are on the grid starting the race. But, you can hear the fans cheering, the tyres screeching and the engine sound is quite different engine to engine and it's nice and deep...rich.

Next round....Bahrain. Let's hope Mark Webber avoids Nigel Mansell impressions in future.

3 minutes 10...hehehe

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26798524

Schumi and Senna
No news on Schumi unfortunately.

It's 20 years in May since the passing of the great Aryton Senna. Two giants of the sport.

Here is a very cool twenty year anniversary edition of Senna's helmet, designed by the son of the guy who used to design Senna's helmets.

2014 preview

Justin:

Just 71 days, 9 hours and 11 minutes until P1 in Australia.

Of course before this preview gets going, I should mention Michael Shumacher. As many people have pointed out, if anyone was in a position where fighting spirit and steel determination was needed, he'd be top of the list. Get well soon Michael.

Red Bull
With Webber having departed, Daniel Ricciardo steps into the role of Aussie Number Two. Course, Red Bull say there are no clear orders regarding number one drivers, but we all know it's Vettel's house - his 4 world titles give him this as well as protection from the RB powers that be when things go wrong - see Malaysia 2013! Ricciardo is quick. Whilst I don't think he'll beat Vettel over a season, there might be one or two times where Vettel throws his toys out of the pram when Ricciardo might trump him in qualy. Team dynamics are key and it will be interesting to see how each party reacts when this happens. I expect Vettel to be in the title hunt and RB will be up there with Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Lotus.

Mercedes
Rosberg and Hamilton were evenly matched in 2013. Lewis will have more of an input on the car this time around so expect to see a faster, more settled Lewis in 2014. Rosberg will undoubtedly raise his game to meet this challenge. If, as people predict, Mercedes build the best power train, then expect both drivers to be real title contenders. The only weaknesses with Mercedes could be tyre wear (they have had this issue since 2010/11) and the reshuffle at the top - with Brawn out they have a technical director and a commercial director. Will be interesting to see who takes blame for stuff when it goes tits up.

Ferrari
Fire and Ice. This is the team where it could all go spectacularly wrong. If they don't produce a winning car (quite likely given the shit they have churned out the last few years), then expect Alonso to wring it's neck and get more out of it than Kimi over the course of a season. Kimi was allegedly brought in to keep Alonso honest in qualy - but as Alonso pointed out, Massa was just as quick as Kimi over their years as teammates. If Ferrari give both guys a winning car - then, well, how it all plays out is anyones guess. The politics at Ferrari are huge. Kimi more or less doesnt get involved in all this so I think it will all be down to how each guy reacts when soundly beaten by the other. Then again, these two may push each other towards the constructors and drivers titles, who knows.

McLaren
This is the year that JB could be made to look a little stupid by a fast rookie. It also has the potential to be the year when JB drives a sublime car to his second world title. If the car is awesome, JB will crush Magnuessen. As a team they must bounce back after 2013 was their worst season for 30 years!

Lotus
Maldonado is still a wild, unpredictable driver. He did win a race when the Williams was good, but I don't expect much from him at Lotus. They should have gotten The Hulk. Grosjean will go onwards and upwards from 2013 and lead this team with style I believe. I wouldnt be surprised, if the car is good, to see Grosjean take his first F1 win in 2014.

Williams
Regulation changes may help them move forwards. Bottas is a very quick guy and with Massa in it for three years I expect much progress from this legendary team in 2014.

Force India
Perez and Hulk is a great combination on paper. Whilst it was the best available seat for Hulk after Lotus declined his services, I am unsure why he has signed a multiyear contract - what if a big team comes calling, which it surely will. With Perez around, I'm half expecting these two to be shunting each other off a fair bit.

Sauber
If they can produce a good car as in 2013, expect Sutil to lead them to many points finishes.

Torro Rosso
Their car was pretty useful in 2013. If they can do the same again I reckon they'll get a fair few points finishes. JEV will be looking to prove the Red Bull people wrong by hiring Ricciardo over him.

Marussia and Caterham
The regulation changes represent the best chance of jumping up the grid a bit for these two eternal backmarker teams.

I have a funny feeling that the two Mercedes drivers will be heavily involved in the drivers title race. There are bound to be others for sure - Vettel and Alonso, but Mercedes seem to be making a lot of good noises thus far and the big rumour is that their power train is pretty awesome and ahead of the game. They need to sort bloody tyre wear and sort off-track issues asap.