Red Bull dominant, Ferrari same same, but look who is back!

Ok, ok, I know I always say I want my racing right at the front, drivers fighting for victories, but whilst Bahrain didn't have any of that, I rather enjoyed the race as a whole. Hell I even said in my last post that if Alonso was back at the sharp end again that I'd stick with F1 this year.

Age is only a number

If you're fast enough you're good enough. This is the general rule in F1. Fernando Alonso is 41 and the oldest driver on the grid. Irrelevant. He is also one of the best, and still one of the hungriest and most dedicated to his profession.

I couldn't believe it when he stuck his Aston Martin in 5th on Saturday in Bahrain. It confirmed what many people had suspected from testing and indeed from the Bahrain practice sessions (when in the latter Alonso was top 3 in the time sheets consistently) - that of the fact that Aston Martin had made serious improvements and gains from last season. Over one lap it looks like they have the third quickest car, more or less. 

On race pace in Bahrain, they had arguably the second quickest car. Whilst the Ferrari's were quicker on the first stint, Alonso bided his time and was just too strong in the second half of the race, the Aston seemed to be much kinder to its tyres compared to the Ferrari (sidenote, was Alonso on different tyres to Sainz? I don't recall). Either way, the race pace is very much there.

Ok LeClerc retired, which helped bump Alonso up the order a bit, but to finish first in F1, first you have to finish. Alonso didn't finish first, but you get my point.

But Alonso robbed Hamilton and Sainz then disappeared up the road later on, having diced with both Mercedes cars earlier on after falling behind them both at the start. I'd say Mercedes are definitely behind Aston and Ferrari.

It is just so exciting to see Fernando back where he belongs at the sharp end. Andrew Benson agrees :-).

Ferrari - same as usual?

The red cars seemed fairly swift early on, though not anywhere near the Red Bull of Max. Indeed, Perez swiftly dispatched both of them to ease into second. Then LeClerc broke down and the pace of Sainz faded towards the end of the race.

And now LeClerc is taking a ten place grid penalty in Saudi Arabia, the season has started off pretty miserably for a team that no doubt had title aspirations.

Red Bull and Max utterly dominant

Both George Russell and Toto Wolff said after the race that they could see Red Bull winning every race this season. I don't think they are too wide of the mark on that prediction. Max was in a league of his own, with Perez 20 odd seconds off in second.

Lance Stroll - One tough bastard!

12 days after breaking his wrists and his big toe, plus some other hefty bruises and the like, Lance Stroll wrangled his Aston Martin to 6th. Amazing. That is why I love F1 - the drivers are absolute warriors! 

Let's see what Saudi Arabia has in store for us this weekend. Will the Aston Martin still be strong and quick? Will Ferrari and Mercedes improve? What has happened to McLaren?

2022 - No regrets, 2023 - Let's go (presuming Red Bull have challengers this year)

2022 - No regrets on not posting

Well, it cannot have escaped those eagle-eyed readers amongst all five of you (I'm being generous with my reader numbers), that I didn't squeeze out a blog at all in 2022. I think that is the first full year since starting this blog with my esteemed colleague in 2010, that I have gone a full year and not dropped one out. 

I'm not going to do any roundups of 2022 or big analysis here now, what would be the point?

At varying stages of the season, and to varying levels, I lost interest in F1 frankly. There were some fun races and some great battles. But there were a fair few dull races, let downs, too, with Max winning what, 15 or 16 races out of however many, the driver and car package started to remind me of Schumacher and Ferrari in 2001-2004 and Lewis and Mercedes between 2017 and 2020 (once Vettel had fallen away mid-season in 2017 and 2018). 

The race winner was more often than not very predictable. I like my F1 with battles for first, not focused on midfield fights for 9th or 10th. Hey ho.

Ok,ok, it would had to have been a monumental 2022 to better the insane championship fight we had in 2021. Let's face it, 2021 had it all and then some (a real once in a generation fight that got nasty on track, like Senna vs Prost etc)! But once Red Bull pegged back Ferrari it felt like game over by mid-season in 2022 (and Ferrari started throwing things away with strategy errors and driver errors etc - question?)...

My head was more than turned by MotoGP in 2022. I'd been following championships past, on and off over the last 2 or 3 years, but my interest exploded in 2022. As my F1 interest faltered at times, my interest in MotoGP grew and grew. The title race was immense, most races had fights at the front and all the way through the field. What a title race and climax at the end, with Francesco Bagnaia looking out of it around half-way, around 90 odd points behind Fabio Quartararo. How Bagnaia turned it around is almost beyond comprehension.

Optimistic outlook for F1 2023

I am hopefully optimistic for F1 2023, and here is why.

Alonso at Aston Martin (I am a huge Alonso fan)

Fair play to Fernando Alonso for snapping up a position at Aston Martin. Alpine were beyond useless on all fronts for securing a driver alongside Ocon for 2023. Apparently they offered Alonso a 1+1 year deal, which if you read the writing on the wall, it sort of looked like they were keeping Piastri in the wings to take over from Alonso the minute they didn't think he was performing.

Alonso preempted them, by buggering off to Aston Martin on a multi-year deal (read 2 or 3 I think?), in the space created by Vettel retiring. 

You're 41, and your current team have left you feeling a little devalued, then a team with a huge development budget comes in and makes you feel immediately wanted with a big deal for multiple years and no doubt an even bigger salary. Bit of a no-brainer really. He is enjoying F1, driving very well indeed, and he wants to ensure he is here for a few more years yet. Aston Martin guaranteed him more years in F1.

Mercedes and Hamilton licking their wounds

Compared to their title-winning cars, Mercedes built a bit of a shitbox for 2022. Hamilton spent more of the early races with different parts on the car in practice sessions, thus negating any good setup time for qualifying and races. Russell drove consistently well all year pretty much. So, both Mercedes and Hamilton will be looking forward to building a race-winning car and thus something to beat Red Bull with again.

Ferrari have to do better, right?

They had the quickest car over one lap in 2022, but through a combination of cock ups and Red Bull improving, they managed to fritter away any title possibilities fairly early on in the season really. If they can build a fast car again and rid themselves of their strategy mess ups, then I am hoping that, along with Merc, we have a 3-team battle at the front.

Alpine fireworks

Interesting that as soon as Alonso said he was leaving, there were bullets being spat left, right and centre between him and Ocon. It seemed an otherwise ok relationship, aside from one or two very close tussles on track (Ocon blocking Alonso off the grid at Hungary, thus moving them both back around 5 places for one!).

Now we have Gasly alongside Ocon. These two famously fell out a few years ago. It is all nice and cordial at the moment. Of course it is. Two French drivers in a French team, they have to appear to be making an effort. I guarantee it will go to shit on track and the relationship will dissolve very quickly in 2023, which is fantastic for the neutrals! After all, looking back, it does seem to be Ocon a lot of the time who has on track prangs with teammates.

Stupid rules (will be broken!)

The silliest rule yet, that F1 drivers cannot speak about politics or religion without prior permission, is beyond stupid. In this day and age, some drivers like using F1 as a platform to raise awareness of things going on in the world. But F1 has to think about the money of course. What if our star driver offends this country with horrific human rights records that gives us buckets and buckets of money? Pft!

That is all I can think of for now. See you again soon in 2023! Next up, car launches!!!

If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver

 19.7.21

A quote from perhaps the greatest of them all, the idol of Lewis Hamilton, Ayrton Senna. Was Lewis channelling that mantra as he arrived at Copse on lap 1?

Ok, as my former blogging colleague, and co-founder of this very blog, pointed out, that quote was from 30 years ago, of a different time in F1, where Senna perhaps got away with things here and there. These days F1 is very risk averse in comparison, hence penalties are dished out for all sorts.

I’ve been texting my F1 mates a lot about this and overall, opinion seems fairly divided. Channel 4 pundits DC and Mark Webber said Lewis shouldn’t have left his wheel in there and that he got off fairly lightly on the penalty. Though I have since seen that LeClerc and Alonso both labelled it a racing incident. Norris seemed less inclined to give his opinion. Fans of both drivers will no doubt back each of their guys.

I have no doubt Horner and Wolff, if their positions were swapped, would be saying the exact things the other is saying right now (and directly after the race).

And let us be honest, do we really think Max would have done any different if he were in Lewis’ position?

 

Racing incident 

I am calling the Lewis vs Max crash at Silverstone a racing incident. Both guys were super aggressive and neither wanted to back off. When that happens, inevitably there is a crash. Perhaps there was 5% more blame on Lewis, because he wasn’t on the usual line for Copse, and Max was.

Though Max knew Lewis was there and was probably expecting him to back off. But unlike the other couple of near moments they have had in races this year, where Lewis had to back off to avoid an accident against the always aggressive Max, this time he didn’t.

Maybe that did come from a moment of desperation. Perhaps he had to overtake Max on lap 1 and make it stick, otherwise Max would have pulled away and disappeared into the distance. 33 points in the title race is a fair way off.

But, Lewis was alongside far enough to be entitled to think it was his corner. Contradicting myself here, but on the flipside he was on a very tight angle and understeering. See, even as I write this I can’t decide entirely where blame should lie.

Andrew Benson, the F1 analyst at BBC, makes some good points in his article. That Lewis has not really had any big title pressure in the last couple of years. 2017 and 18 early on there was a nibble from Vettel, which faded over the course of the seasons. You need to go back to 2016 for when the pressure was last turned up to 10. And Lewis did make a couple of mistakes back then, the big one in Barcelona of course (when Rosberg was ahead and perfectly entitled to slam the door shut on Lewis, causing Lewis to brake and spin onto the grass and clatter into Nico). Nico did not back off at all in 2016 in these sorts of situations, where he perhaps had done previously.

 

24.7.21

Ok, I needed to step away for a few days to clear my head on this one. Red Bull have since announced that the crash could cost them up to £1.3m! Ouch!

It is clear that emotions were very high in the aftermath, from all sides. Christian Horner has mellowed a little since then perhaps. I don’t really agree with Max tweeting from hospital saying he found Lewis celebrating to be disrespectful. They crashed, Lewis was told Max was out of the car and essentially ok. I think, if anything, the fact Lewis still won with that penalty just shows how far ahead Mercedes and Red Bull are of the rest.

 

Drivers of the weekend?

As good as Hamilton’s win was, I can’t give him driver of the weekend when he has been involved in punting his rival into the kitty litter.

You’d have to go some way to beat LeClerc on this for me. That Ferrari had no right being in first place for most of the grand prix. But he showed yet again just what a supreme talent he truly is. And let us not forget that Hamilton was helped out by Ferrari car gremlins as he caught and passed LeClerc.

 

Let us also consider the quite mighty weekend from none other than Fernando Alonso. His sprint race start was utterly electric, going from 11^th to 5^th! Ok he had soft tyres, but his starts have always been mighty, and he found a way around the outside of a couple of cars at least. Then he spent the second half of the sprint race in 7^th fending off a queue of faster cars behind him. As like the Ferrari of LeClerc in the main race, that Alpine had no real business being that high up the order. He spent the grand prix in 7^th, fending off cars behind him too. A true fighting drive.

 

Driver of the year so far

Is unquestionably Lando Norris. Next!

 

Sprint race yey or ney?

I think from a spectator point of view, having qualifying on Friday in place of practice sessions worked well. Let’s face it, most practice sessions are boring to watch.

Then having a mini race on Saturday was diverting enough for a few laps, then it all settled and got very boring very quickly. As most people have remarked, it was saved by Alonso seemingly being in a rocket ship.

I am undecided really. I think the sprint race needs some tweaking if it is to be a permanent fixture, but I hope it really just fades away as for an OCD chap like myself it messes with records a bit. They did a usual qualifying session on Friday and it wasn’t pole position, it was “speed king”. Huh?

 

The championship year ahead

The crash was perhaps inevitable, the way the two protagonists race. And there will be a couple more before the end of the year. The gloves are well and truly off now and we’ll all be watching to see how it pans out in Hungary. For the neutral, this is utterly fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

F1 2018 - Abu Dhabi - A legend says goodbye

Justin:

It's been a while...

My last blog was in June, after the Canadian GP. A lot has happened in F1!

It was indeed the last F1 race I'd see Fernando Alonso at, as he soon after announced his retirement from F1.

Fitting tribute

There were a fair few nice, classy touches from F1 and McLaren over the Abu Dhabi race weekend for the fighting Spaniard.

F1 repainted the driver briefing room with moments from his career - see here.

There was a paddock barbecue after the race.

There was this reflective video piece from McLaren and the man himself here.

McLaren changed their car livery in honour of the helmet colours of Alonso.

And almost finally, the F1 paddock gave their tributes here.

Here's Fernando himself with a final video goodbye and thanks.

But the thing I loved the most? It was like a guard of honour. After the chequered flag, Fernando cruised up to Seb and Lewis doing donuts. And from there the 3 champions drove around the track together. It was as if Fernando's two greatest rivals were giving him a guard of honour and respect to see him on his way. It was a beautiful moment of respect. I remember how tough the Fernando vs Seb fight got in 2012. And from 2010 to 2013 all three of them were contenders and huge rivals. Of course, 2007 is also woven into the tapestry of Lewis vs Fernando. That's where it all began.

Then after driving around to the start/ finish straight, the three legends with 11 titles between them let rip with a series of donuts. 

I've been a massive Alonso fan since the start. He fights. All the time. He drives cars to the absolute limit. He is relentless. He is an F1 legend and an F1 all time great.

I've been lucky enough to attend his home race in 2009 and have seen him race additionally in Belgium in 2012 (where he got punted on the first corner so I have no race photo), Hungary 2015, Singapore 2016 and Montreal this year. I also visited the Fernando Alonso museum in 2017. Here's a picture from each of those below:

Elsewhere

It was a fairly interesting race. We had a scary role for The Hulk. Happily he was fine. Lewis won from Seb whilst Max pipped Daniel to the last podium slot. There was a fair bit of fun racing throughout, featuring some balls out overtakes for sure.

The end is the beginning

Kimi had his last race for Ferrari and is off to Sauber for 2019. Charles Leclerc had is last race for Sauber and is off to Ferrari for 2019.

Daniel Ricciardo is off to Renault next year where Ocon is off to be a Mercedes reserve driver.

Sainz is off to McLaren, and Vandorne is off to Formula E.

Plenty to look forward to next year for sure. How will Seb cope with the young charger next to him? How will Daniel cope being midfield for a year or two? Will Red Bull Honda be the package to see Max challenge Lewis and Seb at the very front?

Thank you Channel 4

I only dabbled once with Sky Sports live coverage for one of the GP's where the highlights were going to be shown at around 11pm or so. And I found their show to be pretty dull actually.

The Channel 4 team are ace! Enthusiasm, action, fun, banter, serious, explaining stuff for the casual viewer they want to entice. Channel 4 have a tricky role in that they have to appeal to die hard F1 fans as well as more casual viewers. It's a fine balance. A balance they achieved and yeah.

Just, thank you to Steve Jones, Karun Chandhok, DC, Mark Webber, Susie Wolf, EJ, Lee McKenzie, Ben Edwards.

You've made the last 3 years so much fun for us peeps who don't want Sky! I noticed the coverage today came up with the graphic "Australian GP highlights will be on C4 on XXX March 2019".

Hope I see some of the gang in 2019 :-).

Why I love Formula One

Justin:

Seems like an indulgent title I know. But, I have rediscovered my love of writing about F1 here, so I thought I'd roll with it and just see where this blog takes me.


I admit I have struggled on occasion to enjoy F1 lately. Minimal fighting at the front and domination by one team. I miss Rosberg at Mercedes too if I am honest. Their team dynamic has changed and seems much more harmonious these days. Good for the team, but I miss the drama and fighting between Nico and Lewis - on the track and off it.

Where did it all start?

Well, I got into F1 because my Dad watched it when I was a nipper, aged 5 or 6. Evidence of my love for the sport was clear early on though. I remember stumbling across an old scrapbook I kept from around 1985 or so. It had press cuttings of everything to do with the sport, plus some amusing crayola drawings that I can only assume were meant to be F1 cars and drivers.


He took me to my first Grand Prix - The 1985 Shell Oils Grand Prix of Europe at Brands Hatch. The first win of Red 5! I have memories of this, mostly via looking at old photographs, but still it is there.

Mansell was my hero, the first driver I was thoroughly entranced by. He fought, scrapped and bullied the car around the tracks of the world. He was a complete fighter, was bloody quick and was intimidated by absolutely nobody. No bullshit. Witness him never yielding to Senna as they thrashed it down the straight of the first Spanish GP at Montmello in 1991 - a truly iconic image.

I remember eagerly getting up at stupid O'clock to watch all the Australian and Japanese races, a lot of them title showdowns. I remember being absolutely gutted when Mansells' tyre burst in 1986. The title showdowns with Prost and Senna, where I saw them crash on the first lap - immense anti-climax, so I went back to bed.

The Chain and Murray Walker are as much a part of the soundtrack to my life as any other music or voice.

I admit, I never fully, truly appreciated Ayrton Senna until well after he died. He was always the arch nemesis of Mansell, so I always felt I just couldn't like the guy at all.

I idolise the guy these days and have pretty much every book about him. In fact, I have an F1 bookcase, full of around 35 F1 books and F1 Racing Magazines dating back to 2001.

The drama...it's all this and more

It's the characters, it's the anticipation at the start of the race - I don't think I've been silent at any race starts, ever. I am always on the edge of my seat, looking out for a quick starting Alonso (for example) whilst screaming at the TV and leaping around.

It's the speed, it's the brutality, it's the gladiators and the machines, it's the risk, it's the art - the way a car impossibly sticks to the race track as it's flung around a corner at 150mph. I once said in this blog that the track is the canvas, the car is the brush and the driver is the artist.

It's wheel to wheel at 200mph...I just bloody love this sport.

I remember getting up in 1994 to watch the title showdown in Adelaide and being absolutely destroyed when Hill pulled into the pits. The wistful look in his eyes as he stared at the broken front wishbone. His titles hopes done and dusted.

I watched again in the early hours for Japan 1996 to hear Murray speak those immortal lines "and I've got to stop, because I've got a lump in my throat" - as Damon became World Champion.

It's watching the 2010 title decider with friends and being absolutely distraught when I saw things slipping away from Alonso, stuck behind Petrov for lap after lap as Vettel swiped the title from under his nose.

It's the utter drama of the 2007 season as Ron couldn't hold McLaren together as everything imploded.

It's Bahrain 2014 - the insane race between Rosberg and Hamilton. Teammates going for it 100%, neither wanting to yield an inch of tarmac, side by side, running out of road.

It's Gilles Villeneuve. I didn't grow up in his era, but I've seen the races. The ultimate fighter never gave up. Ever. The car control was insane. A true F1 hero.

It's the rich history of the sport, the despair, the drama, the heroic moments, the racing wheel to wheel, tinged with tragic moments.

In the flesh

From 1985, my next live encounter was Silverstone qualifying in 1991 - Senna, Prost and Mansell were all there.

2001 - Walked around Albert Park on my visit to Australia.

Then, skip forward to Barcelona 2009. Alonso country! The eager Spanish track announcer encouraging the crowd to join in every time he announced Alonso on the circuit speaker system - "Fernando....ALLLLOOONNNNSSSSSOOOOOO!!!!!". What a fantastic weekend as we witnessed Button crush all before him in his dominant Brawn. We also saw Massa conk out on the last lap and Alonso breeze by him for a tidy 5th in a pretty below average Renault. The crowd went absolutely bonkers.

Next, the boys trip to Belgium in 2012. From sheltering in a freezing cold bus shelter in the cold rain through to discovering Belgian beer, this was a trip to remember. Watching the cars go around Pouhon at 150mph, impossibly sticking to the tarmac, was incredible to see. I spent the first half of the race in a foul mood, as I'd traveled all that way to see Alonso continue on his path to the title only to see him punted out in dramatic fashion at turn one.

Hungary 2015 was hot! Our grandstand gave us a perfect view of Hamilton binning it into the kitty litter in the first lap. Alonso was 5th. All good!

Singapore 2016 was a different experience entirely! I was in the Waterfront grandstand, so had a fantastic view of the cars as they accelerated away and out of the corner, squirming to within an inch of the barrier. Amazing. I could also hear the support cars from my hotel room - what a way to whet the appetite! It was a great race too, with Rosberg being followed closely by Daniel, Kimi and Lewis.

2017 - No racing, but just the matter of visit to the Alonso Collection in Oviedo. I blogged about this last year. It's not every day you get to see all the cars of the greatest racer of a generation.

2018 - Off to Montreal for the Canadian GP. I've walked around the track before in..2002 I think. Grandstand 12 - I'm looking forward to what is usually a very entertaining race.

So, as every relationship has ups and downs, I've had mine with F1 - I still absolutely love it though.

Liberty have much to think about for the future though - I've read in places that people see Formula E as the future and at some point down the road F1 has decisions to make about how it progresses and what it becomes.

To Bahrain!

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.