Belgium, Oviedo and whatever else I need to catch up on...

Justin:
Ok, so, it's been about three months since my first and only blog of this season. I've been about as rubbish as a Honda engine ;-).


For seven years, from 2010 to the end of 2016, I was writing pretty much after each and every race. I've gone into occasional blogger mode for the time being - so be it.

Fernando Alonso Museum
I was like a pig in shit during a recent trip to Spain, as I went with the number one purpose of visiting the Alonso museum. I certainly was not disappointed. I'll just let some of the pictures do the talking here...

Lorenzo Bandini trophy

2003 Renault - First race win!

World title and world title winning Renault

2012 Ferrari

Belgium
You can find all the race details and post-race interviews here, on the Channel 4 F1 website.

The big talking point for me has to be those Force India boys
Check out this tweet from Esteban Ocon - surely this won't go down very smoothly with Perez or the team!! Wouldn't be surprised if this gets deleted at some point. They were both blaming each other after the race, as F1 drivers usually do. That said, the stewards investigated but took no further action on the second incident at Eau Rouge. Force India have stated the drivers are not free to race moving forward. Fair play there. They have to learn not to nerf each other at every given opportunity, or it's becoming pretty much every race now! I watched the race with the Hamilton Court F1 Club (unofficial name = just me and two petrolhead neighbours :-)), and even we couldn't really reach agreement as to whose fault it all was. Ocon was being optimistic, but Perez would have known he was there surely. Just found this from Perez. Fair play - displaying a much cooler head. Well, I guess he is the experienced old hand in this pairing.

Racing right at the front
Am I too demanding on what I need from F1? I want wheel to wheel racing at the front. Blood, sweat and tears for the win. Vettel was never really more than a couple of seconds off Hamilton throughout, so no doubt they were both on it for all 44 laps. But aside from two crucial moments where they were side by side, they were never really together either. Still, Lewis caned it in qualifying and never looked back really. The championship fight continues to Monza for sure. Is this the weekend where Bottas dropped out of the potential title fight? He definitely had an off weekend. Then again, I'm sure we'll see Lewis have one of those sooner or later. Vettel has been the more consistent performer thus far, and whilst I think it will be very close, I think Vettel may just pip Lewis to the title. It's going to be great watching two legends go at it.

Anything else?
A good weekend for Palmer - Where did that pace come from? He would have been 7th on the grid had his car not failed yet again.

Danny Ric had a good race, steaming past Kimi and Bottas late on in an insane overtake. His press conference was bang on hilarious as is becoming the norm - check it out.

Max had a mare when his car broke down on lap 8. Oh dear. It has to be something to do with how he drives the car no? Anyway, he is sort of stuck at Red Bull for at least another year - until possible seats at Mercedes and Ferrari come up in 2019.

Alonso had a great race to a point, before his Honda engine failed yet again. He has gone on record as saying that McLaren only need to change one thing for him to stay next year. Just what could that be??!!

Nico Rosberg
Seems to be enjoying his retirement :-) - Check out his vlog here.

Robert Kubica
I would love, love, love to see this guy back next year for sure. Let's see how his next test goes.

The driver market has settled at the top 3 teams for next year. It's the midfield where rumours abound! Alonso, Kubica and the Renault test driver are all rumoured to be in the running for 2018 at Renault. Three into one will not go. Renault are also apparently thinking of Sainz. How many cars will they run next year?

Anyway, I'll be more regular from now on so blogs won't have three months worth of stuff to talk about in future!

2017: Thoughts that swirl in my mind, oh...and the season so far

Justin:

The lay of the land, post Nico...

So, I hadn't posted since December. Don't let my late response to the 2017 season trick you into thinking I'd lost interest.


Actually, before and after Australia (wasn't a classic race was it?) I was missing the Rosberg vs Hamilton element, which did diminish my interest a fair bit to start with. I think no matter what the racing was like this year and no matter who was at the front, I was genuinely going to miss the inter-team rivalry of Rosberg vs Hamilton.

More questions than answers

I completely respect the decision Nico took at the end of 2016, but it left so many mouth-watering questions unanswered. How would Lewis cope racing against a guy that had beaten him to the title? How would Nico cope in defending his title, knowing he'd given everything last time out? How would Mercedes cope with two world champions and a rivalry beyond any intensity level they'd experienced before? It all sounded quite fun! But that is not the season we have unfolding before us.

Ok..so the stuff above was written around a month ago and left in draft as I was nowhere near being finished for my first post.. 

The Russian GP was absolute rubbish/ total boredom, but of course mega congrats to Bottas on his maiden F1 victory. The races in China and Bahrain were pretty good. The race in Spain however, was another level entirely.

My main gripe with Formula 1 for, well the entire hybrid era, is that there has scarcely been any racing for the lead.

We had mega action in Bahrain 2014, and besides one or two laps here and there, that was about it until 2016. Even then, for the most part when there was action for first, the two Mercedes crashed into each other (Spain and Austria).

Spain helped me forget many of the issues I have with F1 right now.

Hamilton Vs Vettel. One on one. Fighting for the lead. Fighting for the win.

That's what I wanted. That's what we all wanted. On track action.

It did amuse me when Hamilton mentioned in passing that Vettel squeezing him off track was dangerous. Erm, I'm pretty sure Hamilton left Nico with no road a fair few times in the past (Austin 2015 to name just one). In fact, that's probably one of the reasons Nico started fighting back in 2016 and getting his elbows out more in one on one combat with Lewis.

So, it is Lewis Vs Seb for 2017. I'm more interested after Spain, for sure. Let us see what Monaco brings. I expect Red Bull to be a lot closer for this one, as engines don't matter as much. With that, a nod to Fernando Alonso's mighty P7 on the grid in Spain, and the fact that the McLaren should be quick around Monaco.

Driver of the year so far...

Nico Hulkenberg has stood out a mile at Renault. Brilliant qualifying performances followed by solid races for the most part. I think Renault must be the most improved team from 2016. Hulk looks like he made a good choice going for the factory seat.

Fernando at Indy!

P5 on the grid. Legend. I'll be watching! Vamos!!!!!!!!!

Nicky Hayden

Incredibly sad to hear of the passing of the 2006 MotoGP Champion. I didn't watch a lot of biking on TV, but from the stuff I did see, he came across as one of the most genuine chaps out there. And he was bloody talented and extremely quick. He beat Rossi to the title for cripes sake, in the same team. That's how good he was. BT Sports and Suzi Perry did a beautiful tribute to him.