Justin:
I think I either need to do a live blog during the race highlights on Sunday, or at least cynically post a blog during to piggyback on all the hashtag traffic to get me more readers :-).
There's just a handful of days until FP1 and we get more of an idea of the pecking order.
I'm competing yet again in a Fantasy F1 contest. I've picked 3 teams - my drivers include Ricciardo, Bottas, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez, Sainz. In fact, the Renault drivers and engines pop up a fair bit. Ocon is in there too.
I'm just bloody excited for it all to start now.
Have I mentioned this blogger is off to Canada in June too?!
F1 is back!
*Update - FP1 is very soon now!! F1 is back. This blog post is pretty much just me getting very excited and wanting to post something!!
Showing posts with label fernando alonso. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fernando alonso. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 March 2018
Sunday, 27 August 2017
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...
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!
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!
Sunday, 3 April 2016
Round 2: Bahrain
Justin:
Alonso Vs Herbert
Didn't really see this battle coming around, but it did, sort of. Johnny Herbert wrote about his thoughts on why Alonso should retire. He went in-depth about it all. It's his opinion. As a pundit, he is paid to do this.
Erm, possibly what he didn't count on was waking the Spanish Fighter into a response. Oh dear. Awkward!
Fair play to Alonso for doing it face to face with a handshake (lulling Herbert into a "oh this is going to be a respectful exchange....oh...it's not" false sense of security). Herbert is paid to give his opinion, Alonso was merely airing his with someone who had clearly pissed him off.
Herbert's column is here, as well as the video of the slightly comical put down live on air (snigger).
A thumbs up for Alonso on this one. Thanks to Zeenews India for me nicking their pic!
Rosberg starting strong
The problem Nico had last year was Hamilton destroyed him over the first half of the year and never looked back. Nico just never got going, mostly because Hamilton got up a head of steam and totally crushed him. Rosberg knew he needed to have a strong start to 2016 to stand a chance of matching Hamilton.
He is doing that. No doubt Hamilton will come back strong, once he gets the starts sorted out. Nico admitted as much that it was at the start where he won the race. Lewis went backwards fast. Nico started like a bullet. Lewis bogged down and this resulted in him being involved in a nerfing incident where Bottas clattered into him.
Vettel out and Lewis down to 9th - I was screaming at the TV in joy!
I don't say this often, but it was a shame that Vettel conked out before the start. It robbed us of a potentially more interesting fight at the front. That will come soon enough though.
Carbon fiber carnage
As DC pointed out - was there a points scoring system for people hitting each other through the opening laps?! Blimey!
There was plenty of action away from the front of the field - from 4th down there was some awesome racing for sure (always add a "for sure" in, when "yeah, no, absolutely" isn't used for once!).
Ricciardo drove a great race, as did Kvyat in fact - an awesome drive from 15th to 7th - fair play!
Vandoorne showed what he is made of, picking up the first points of the year for McLaren. Great drive there.
Williams seem to be going backwards, but I absolutely loved the smile Frank Williams gave late on when one of his cars was overtaken around the outside in a properly racy move. He is a pure, pure out and out racer.
Driver of the day
There are simply too many candidates here once again. Lewis for a great recovery drive. Kimi for showing up to a race for once. Nico, doing what he needed to do and leading out front all race. Vandoorne for an astonishing debut. Either Red Bull driver....
At the risk of sounding like a broken record....Grosjean is my driver of the day yet again.
5th! In just the second race of a brand new team. That is insane. The guy just sailed through the field serenely. He is super fast and a super safe pair of hands these days.
Surely Ferrari cannot afford to not look his way in 2017.
Channel 4
Coverage was good. Steve Jones is hitting his stride well. The exchange with Toto Wolff about body blows was hilarious. As was the interview where he couldn't hear his wife's questions.
Bernie
Calling the drivers windbags and referring to your relief that they can read and write (when he spoke about their open letter) was not a good move in my opinion. I'm sure Jackie Stewart had plenty to say about his remarks. The qualifying debacle is still not sorted. Qualifying at the moment is shit. Change it!
Alonso Vs Herbert
Didn't really see this battle coming around, but it did, sort of. Johnny Herbert wrote about his thoughts on why Alonso should retire. He went in-depth about it all. It's his opinion. As a pundit, he is paid to do this.
Erm, possibly what he didn't count on was waking the Spanish Fighter into a response. Oh dear. Awkward!
Fair play to Alonso for doing it face to face with a handshake (lulling Herbert into a "oh this is going to be a respectful exchange....oh...it's not" false sense of security). Herbert is paid to give his opinion, Alonso was merely airing his with someone who had clearly pissed him off.
Herbert's column is here, as well as the video of the slightly comical put down live on air (snigger).
A thumbs up for Alonso on this one. Thanks to Zeenews India for me nicking their pic!
Rosberg starting strong
The problem Nico had last year was Hamilton destroyed him over the first half of the year and never looked back. Nico just never got going, mostly because Hamilton got up a head of steam and totally crushed him. Rosberg knew he needed to have a strong start to 2016 to stand a chance of matching Hamilton.
He is doing that. No doubt Hamilton will come back strong, once he gets the starts sorted out. Nico admitted as much that it was at the start where he won the race. Lewis went backwards fast. Nico started like a bullet. Lewis bogged down and this resulted in him being involved in a nerfing incident where Bottas clattered into him.
Vettel out and Lewis down to 9th - I was screaming at the TV in joy!
I don't say this often, but it was a shame that Vettel conked out before the start. It robbed us of a potentially more interesting fight at the front. That will come soon enough though.
Carbon fiber carnage
As DC pointed out - was there a points scoring system for people hitting each other through the opening laps?! Blimey!
There was plenty of action away from the front of the field - from 4th down there was some awesome racing for sure (always add a "for sure" in, when "yeah, no, absolutely" isn't used for once!).
Ricciardo drove a great race, as did Kvyat in fact - an awesome drive from 15th to 7th - fair play!
Vandoorne showed what he is made of, picking up the first points of the year for McLaren. Great drive there.
Williams seem to be going backwards, but I absolutely loved the smile Frank Williams gave late on when one of his cars was overtaken around the outside in a properly racy move. He is a pure, pure out and out racer.
Driver of the day
There are simply too many candidates here once again. Lewis for a great recovery drive. Kimi for showing up to a race for once. Nico, doing what he needed to do and leading out front all race. Vandoorne for an astonishing debut. Either Red Bull driver....
At the risk of sounding like a broken record....Grosjean is my driver of the day yet again.
5th! In just the second race of a brand new team. That is insane. The guy just sailed through the field serenely. He is super fast and a super safe pair of hands these days.
Surely Ferrari cannot afford to not look his way in 2017.
Channel 4
Coverage was good. Steve Jones is hitting his stride well. The exchange with Toto Wolff about body blows was hilarious. As was the interview where he couldn't hear his wife's questions.
Bernie
Calling the drivers windbags and referring to your relief that they can read and write (when he spoke about their open letter) was not a good move in my opinion. I'm sure Jackie Stewart had plenty to say about his remarks. The qualifying debacle is still not sorted. Qualifying at the moment is shit. Change it!
Sunday, 20 March 2016
Welcome back old friend - Round 1: Australia
Justin:
So much to cover...
First off, hats off to Channel 4 for their first effort at covering this awesome sport. There was definitely room for improvement....too many advert breaks for a highlights show, Steve Jones interrupting DC and Webber a fair amount (to be fair that is probably just because he can't quite believe his luck) and a few other bits.
All in all (as Vettel would say), not bad at all people. Hell, you have saved me from either missing F1 entirely or having to turn to the dark side and purchase Sky!
Was lovely hearing The Chain and indeed hearing Ben Edwards shouting "Lights out, away we go!".
Where I'm at
I sometimes lost the will to live with F1 last year. Hamilton dominating and not even his teammate coming close to being near him = Formula Bore! Rosberg sprang into life over the last few races, giving us and him hope for 2016.
I've missed F1 so much over the winter, don't get me wrong. But, I don't think I could take much of the same this year...
Race report
...Which is good, because the Australian GP was a solid season opener. Ferrari and Vettel cocked up big time - so much so that had they fitted the medium tyres when everyone else did, they may very well have won. Though, Rosberg showed pretty awesome pace throughout anyway, keeping up with the red guys.
As a friend pointed out, Channel 4 managed to not show Rosbergs amazing out lap to be on the tailpipe of Vettel. All we saw was Rosberg appearing behind him.
Ok, there wasn't a great deal of fighting at the front, but there was a bit. For the rest of the season, it is imperative that Rosberg and Vettel challenge Hamilton. Throw Kimi in there too - what rotten luck he had yet again. He was keeping pace until his engine blew up! Hell, Ricciardo could be in there too, who knows. Williams not so much on this display. They were nowhere.
Hamilton had a shabby start, which kind of threw his race out of whack from the start. He recovered very well for a strong second place.
Picking up where he left off
I'd imagine nobody knows more than Rosberg that he has to do it every race this year. He needs to be on it all year. Nothing else will come close to being good enough. He was on it today. He has won the last 4 races and will be gaining belief all the time now.
Grosjean and Haas
My driver of the day has to be this guy. He is a class act. Haas took him on board because he is fast and consistent. He delivers. He is my driver of the day, no question at all. For Haas to get 6th place on their debut is a stunning, amazing result. Well done to all of them! Does Grosjean have an eye on a Ferrari seat for 2017? Ferrari would be silly not to have one eye on him.
Palmer
I can only name one driver of the day. This guy was on TV more, battling with more people, and indeed giving himself a pretty damn good name in F1. He defended well, overtook well and it was an awesome debut frankly.
McLaren pace
Promising improvements here. Both drivers seem much happier. Then again, the only way was up after 2015. That said, they qualified only 1.5 seconds behind the Mercedes pair.
I think I speak for everyone..
Alonso's crash was absolutely horrifying frankly. The car was a total mangled mess of carbon fibre. Very happy to see him get out and walk away. He'll be back fighting hard in Bahrain.
Sainz vs Verstappen
This could be the teammate rivalry to end all others at this rate (Merc boys aside). Sainz doesn't seem to Verstappen spitting his dummy.
To round off with
I actually thought it was quite fun seeing Webber and Vettel joking around on the podium. I don't like Vettel, but it goes to show that once guys leave F1, there is always a thawing of frosty teammate relationships. They were enemies whilst being teammates, but with time, it's nice to see they can have a joke every now and again.
How to be Mark Webber...
Just add "mate" onto the end of every sentence :-)
To Bahrain!!!!
Me, the blog author, in Hungary 2015 decked out in Alonso gear.
So much to cover...
First off, hats off to Channel 4 for their first effort at covering this awesome sport. There was definitely room for improvement....too many advert breaks for a highlights show, Steve Jones interrupting DC and Webber a fair amount (to be fair that is probably just because he can't quite believe his luck) and a few other bits.
All in all (as Vettel would say), not bad at all people. Hell, you have saved me from either missing F1 entirely or having to turn to the dark side and purchase Sky!
Was lovely hearing The Chain and indeed hearing Ben Edwards shouting "Lights out, away we go!".
Where I'm at
I sometimes lost the will to live with F1 last year. Hamilton dominating and not even his teammate coming close to being near him = Formula Bore! Rosberg sprang into life over the last few races, giving us and him hope for 2016.
I've missed F1 so much over the winter, don't get me wrong. But, I don't think I could take much of the same this year...
Race report
...Which is good, because the Australian GP was a solid season opener. Ferrari and Vettel cocked up big time - so much so that had they fitted the medium tyres when everyone else did, they may very well have won. Though, Rosberg showed pretty awesome pace throughout anyway, keeping up with the red guys.
As a friend pointed out, Channel 4 managed to not show Rosbergs amazing out lap to be on the tailpipe of Vettel. All we saw was Rosberg appearing behind him.
Ok, there wasn't a great deal of fighting at the front, but there was a bit. For the rest of the season, it is imperative that Rosberg and Vettel challenge Hamilton. Throw Kimi in there too - what rotten luck he had yet again. He was keeping pace until his engine blew up! Hell, Ricciardo could be in there too, who knows. Williams not so much on this display. They were nowhere.
Hamilton had a shabby start, which kind of threw his race out of whack from the start. He recovered very well for a strong second place.
Picking up where he left off
I'd imagine nobody knows more than Rosberg that he has to do it every race this year. He needs to be on it all year. Nothing else will come close to being good enough. He was on it today. He has won the last 4 races and will be gaining belief all the time now.
Grosjean and Haas
My driver of the day has to be this guy. He is a class act. Haas took him on board because he is fast and consistent. He delivers. He is my driver of the day, no question at all. For Haas to get 6th place on their debut is a stunning, amazing result. Well done to all of them! Does Grosjean have an eye on a Ferrari seat for 2017? Ferrari would be silly not to have one eye on him.
Palmer
I can only name one driver of the day. This guy was on TV more, battling with more people, and indeed giving himself a pretty damn good name in F1. He defended well, overtook well and it was an awesome debut frankly.
McLaren pace
Promising improvements here. Both drivers seem much happier. Then again, the only way was up after 2015. That said, they qualified only 1.5 seconds behind the Mercedes pair.
I think I speak for everyone..
Alonso's crash was absolutely horrifying frankly. The car was a total mangled mess of carbon fibre. Very happy to see him get out and walk away. He'll be back fighting hard in Bahrain.
Sainz vs Verstappen
This could be the teammate rivalry to end all others at this rate (Merc boys aside). Sainz doesn't seem to Verstappen spitting his dummy.
To round off with
I actually thought it was quite fun seeing Webber and Vettel joking around on the podium. I don't like Vettel, but it goes to show that once guys leave F1, there is always a thawing of frosty teammate relationships. They were enemies whilst being teammates, but with time, it's nice to see they can have a joke every now and again.
How to be Mark Webber...
Just add "mate" onto the end of every sentence :-)
To Bahrain!!!!
Me, the blog author, in Hungary 2015 decked out in Alonso gear.
Monday, 25 January 2016
2016...just 54 days until "Lights out, away we go!"
With a new season nearly here, it occurred to me that we actually started this blog way back in 2010. The first blog takes us back through nearly 6 years of F1. Blimey.
Wow, that is a fair while ago. That was back when my long time co-blogger actually blogged once in a while ;-). That was when Alonso was fighting for titles and Webber was in his prime also fighting for titles.
A lifetime in F1 terms.
So, the season ahead...
Well, will we be hearing the famous words of Ben Edwards as the cars line up on the grid in Oz? Chances are, yes we will. It's complicated, but David Coulthard's production company have been hired by Channel 4 to take care of the F1 coverage. So, DC has swiped a lot of the BBC team - Ben Edwards included. It provides continuity for us folk who don't want Sky.
There isn't a great deal of news, but here is a quick roundup...
Honda have allegedly found 223BHP over the winter. I'd like to believe it. However, the piece reads like a lovely bit of PR frankly. The Honda engineers cancelled Christmas and worked 24/7? Yeah, ok! (I should note here that Honda have since said they don't know where the figure or report came from).
The Honda engine will be as fast as the 2015 Ferrari. Erm, I guess that is progress, but they will still be behind.
Though, they should at least have Manor, Renault and Haas behind them.
We welcome Jolyon Palmer to the grid with Renault. He has Pastor as a teammate - all you need to do is not crash and you'll be doing better than him!
To be fair, all the news is stuffed full of drivers training and drivers off having a good time.
There isn't a great deal going on right now.
Car launches soon and then testing. That's when we and indeed JB and Alonso find out whether the McLaren is still far off the pace or not.
PS - you may or may not have noticed that I failed in my "write a blog a day for 30 days in November". I got to day 8 which was pretty good. Turns out I gave myself too many challenges!
Wow, that is a fair while ago. That was back when my long time co-blogger actually blogged once in a while ;-). That was when Alonso was fighting for titles and Webber was in his prime also fighting for titles.
A lifetime in F1 terms.
So, the season ahead...
Well, will we be hearing the famous words of Ben Edwards as the cars line up on the grid in Oz? Chances are, yes we will. It's complicated, but David Coulthard's production company have been hired by Channel 4 to take care of the F1 coverage. So, DC has swiped a lot of the BBC team - Ben Edwards included. It provides continuity for us folk who don't want Sky.
There isn't a great deal of news, but here is a quick roundup...
Honda have allegedly found 223BHP over the winter. I'd like to believe it. However, the piece reads like a lovely bit of PR frankly. The Honda engineers cancelled Christmas and worked 24/7? Yeah, ok! (I should note here that Honda have since said they don't know where the figure or report came from).
The Honda engine will be as fast as the 2015 Ferrari. Erm, I guess that is progress, but they will still be behind.
Though, they should at least have Manor, Renault and Haas behind them.
We welcome Jolyon Palmer to the grid with Renault. He has Pastor as a teammate - all you need to do is not crash and you'll be doing better than him!
To be fair, all the news is stuffed full of drivers training and drivers off having a good time.
There isn't a great deal going on right now.
Car launches soon and then testing. That's when we and indeed JB and Alonso find out whether the McLaren is still far off the pace or not.
PS - you may or may not have noticed that I failed in my "write a blog a day for 30 days in November". I got to day 8 which was pretty good. Turns out I gave myself too many challenges!
Saturday, 7 November 2015
Day five and six: Fighters
So, I missed my blog yesterday - whoops!
I've written separately on blogs about drivers who inspire me, who I call legends.
It's drivers that fight. They fight their way past others, they never give up because they simply just do not know how. It's drivers who are tough.
Niki Lauda - The toughest driver ever to grace a track in my opinion. My eyes well up, I'm not ashamed to say it, when watching Rush; particularly at the moment he finishes 4th in Italy after being practically burnt alive just a few races before. He emerged from the car and the wounds on his face, nowhere near fully healed, were bloody! This guy is the toughest fighter out there, past or present.
In fact, all the drivers I have followed throughout my life have the fighting/ never give up attitude (perhaps aside from Damon Hill who was always quite a smooth driver and a pretty placid chap off track - though, he certainly fought back hard against Schumacher!).
Nigel Mansell - Perhaps the most balls out racer in recent times. He used to muscle his way past people. Piquet at Silverstone in 87...just wow. He would not be intimidated by anyone, ever. One of the most famous bits of footage from "yesteryear" (snigger) is him and Senna at the first Barcelona GP in 1991, side by side for the whole start/ finish straight. Neither willing to yield.
Gilles and Jacques - Like father like son (Murray Walker says so himself). Both these guys existed to race. Both had a fighty, on the ragged edge style. Both liked exploring the limits of the car.
Witness Jacques setting himself the target of going through Eau Rouge flat out during his leaner BAR times, just because it was something to do!
Video from "Formula Spy" - though he won't get much traffic as nobody reads this :-).
Video by John Cash
Alonso - Valencia 2012 - What a fighter!! Erm there are loads of tribute videos to this drive alone.
I've written separately on blogs about drivers who inspire me, who I call legends.
It's drivers that fight. They fight their way past others, they never give up because they simply just do not know how. It's drivers who are tough.
Niki Lauda - The toughest driver ever to grace a track in my opinion. My eyes well up, I'm not ashamed to say it, when watching Rush; particularly at the moment he finishes 4th in Italy after being practically burnt alive just a few races before. He emerged from the car and the wounds on his face, nowhere near fully healed, were bloody! This guy is the toughest fighter out there, past or present.
In fact, all the drivers I have followed throughout my life have the fighting/ never give up attitude (perhaps aside from Damon Hill who was always quite a smooth driver and a pretty placid chap off track - though, he certainly fought back hard against Schumacher!).
Nigel Mansell - Perhaps the most balls out racer in recent times. He used to muscle his way past people. Piquet at Silverstone in 87...just wow. He would not be intimidated by anyone, ever. One of the most famous bits of footage from "yesteryear" (snigger) is him and Senna at the first Barcelona GP in 1991, side by side for the whole start/ finish straight. Neither willing to yield.
Gilles and Jacques - Like father like son (Murray Walker says so himself). Both these guys existed to race. Both had a fighty, on the ragged edge style. Both liked exploring the limits of the car.
Witness Jacques setting himself the target of going through Eau Rouge flat out during his leaner BAR times, just because it was something to do!
Video from "Formula Spy" - though he won't get much traffic as nobody reads this :-).
Alonso - Valencia 2012 - What a fighter!! Erm there are loads of tribute videos to this drive alone.
Sunday, 16 August 2015
Hungary - A 30th Birthday to remember
Justin:
Well, instead of asking what Hungary offered up as a race, it would be much simpler to ask what did it not offer?
Not much, is the answer. It had everything. Overtakes, rocket launches at the start, prangs, offs, people surging through the field, safety cars...overtakes, prangs...best race of the year!
I was there to witness it all first hand. What a race to pick to go and see live!
It was bloody hot, with the Friday and Saturday reaching 38/39 degrees centigrade - with a track temperature of 59 degrees centigrade. That is insane.
We were sat in a stand (never figured that one out) at the first chicane - turn 5 or 6 I think? I couldn't believe the roar when the cars came round on lap one with the Ferrari pair leading the way.
The roar was even louder when Lewis binned it into the kitty litter. Video here:
You can hear me shouting "Was that Hamilton??!!". The video screen was a way down the road and whilst you can identify people via their helmets (though my co-blogger seemed befuddled by the clear distinction between Nico's black helmet and the white one of Lewis), in the first lap melee I lost track in the crowd eruption.
Finns and Ferrari
I'd say 90% of fans were Ferrari fans of some description and there were a mighty load of Finnish people supporting Kimi. They don't appear to notice that Bottas is of the same country.
Nico
A huge lost opportunity here for Nico. Ok he couldn't keep up with the Red team and was nowhere near as quick as Lewis all weekend. After Hamilton went off, there was bags of time between the two drivers, but for some reason Nico just couldn't catch the guys ahead and seemed to fixate on what Lewis was up to behind. As it happened, drama unfolded late on for both as Hamilton received a drive through in his most error-strewn race since 2011 and Rosberg...oh Nico.
It was difficult keeping track of who was where sometimes so the first we saw was a Mercedes tootling around with a puncture...or was he just going really slow when he came by us?
I'm happy
Alonso - legend. Pushing his car back to the pits after it conked out in qualy then hauling it to a superb 5th place on Sunday. You could see in qualy and indeed in the race that he was pushing to the limit, the McLaren dancing..skating...off the kerb coming out of the chicane as it accelerated away. Beautiful watching F1 at this part of the track. Oh, and on the Thursday evening pitwalk (we got there despite a walk of death across hills and fields for 40 minutes through an electrical storm) I saw Alonso sat in his car. Awesome.
Jules - #17
The minute of silence in his memory was observed beautifully by all of the 80/90,000 fans at the circuit. I couldn't believe how silent it was and how emotional it all was. That's what I love about F1. We all follow different drivers and teams, but we all love F1. Jules was a part of what we love.
Next stop = Belgium.
Well, instead of asking what Hungary offered up as a race, it would be much simpler to ask what did it not offer?
Not much, is the answer. It had everything. Overtakes, rocket launches at the start, prangs, offs, people surging through the field, safety cars...overtakes, prangs...best race of the year!
I was there to witness it all first hand. What a race to pick to go and see live!
It was bloody hot, with the Friday and Saturday reaching 38/39 degrees centigrade - with a track temperature of 59 degrees centigrade. That is insane.
We were sat in a stand (never figured that one out) at the first chicane - turn 5 or 6 I think? I couldn't believe the roar when the cars came round on lap one with the Ferrari pair leading the way.
The roar was even louder when Lewis binned it into the kitty litter. Video here:
Finns and Ferrari
I'd say 90% of fans were Ferrari fans of some description and there were a mighty load of Finnish people supporting Kimi. They don't appear to notice that Bottas is of the same country.
Nico
A huge lost opportunity here for Nico. Ok he couldn't keep up with the Red team and was nowhere near as quick as Lewis all weekend. After Hamilton went off, there was bags of time between the two drivers, but for some reason Nico just couldn't catch the guys ahead and seemed to fixate on what Lewis was up to behind. As it happened, drama unfolded late on for both as Hamilton received a drive through in his most error-strewn race since 2011 and Rosberg...oh Nico.
It was difficult keeping track of who was where sometimes so the first we saw was a Mercedes tootling around with a puncture...or was he just going really slow when he came by us?
I'm happy
Alonso - legend. Pushing his car back to the pits after it conked out in qualy then hauling it to a superb 5th place on Sunday. You could see in qualy and indeed in the race that he was pushing to the limit, the McLaren dancing..skating...off the kerb coming out of the chicane as it accelerated away. Beautiful watching F1 at this part of the track. Oh, and on the Thursday evening pitwalk (we got there despite a walk of death across hills and fields for 40 minutes through an electrical storm) I saw Alonso sat in his car. Awesome.
Jules - #17
The minute of silence in his memory was observed beautifully by all of the 80/90,000 fans at the circuit. I couldn't believe how silent it was and how emotional it all was. That's what I love about F1. We all follow different drivers and teams, but we all love F1. Jules was a part of what we love.
Next stop = Belgium.
Sunday, 7 December 2014
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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.
Monday, 21 April 2014
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!!
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!!
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Toxic Teammates
Justin:
Best friends, work colleagues etc etc, fall out. Some friendships recover, get over blips, some aren't meant to or simply don't. For one reason or another, lack of effort or caring, some friendships fade.
Add to all this the intense sporting environment of F1 and you would have to say true friendships are hard to find. That's not to say they do not exist, just rarely between two drivers on the same team.
I've picked three examples of when "teammates" were nothing of the sort, where the relationship soured and people fought the enemies within, but each example has some striking similarities with the next. Indeed, Piquet Vs Mansell at Williams in 1986 is similar in nature to that of Alonso Vs Hamilton at Mclaren in 2007. That of established double world champion coming in to a British team either expecting to be number 1, or promised they would be number 1. In the case of Williams fate intervened and in the case of Mclaren Ron Dennis sold Alonso a dream that didn't exist (read, there seemed to have been an almighty misunderstanding and general fuckup at the contract signing!).
The first example, Prost Vs Senna...what hasn't been said about it? This was simply the case of Senna thinking "who is the best driver?" and then setting out to move to the best team, alongside the best driver, to destroy him.
Prost Vs Senna
Prost himself remarked once that Senna wanted to not beat him, but humiliate him. That was Monaco in 1988 when Senna was told to slow down whilst 55 seconds in the lead ahead of Prost. He kept pushing and pushing, then crashed out. No doubt Prost saw Senna wanting to humiliate him as a weakness. Despite the odd barbed remark, things remained cordial enough for 88, with Senna taking the title in Japan.
1989 was the beginning of the end...the end of 89 was the end of the end.
Senna had begun moulding the team around him and even though Prost won the title, Senna had effectively driven Prost out of his home simply because he refused to work with someone like Senna ever again.
They crashed into each other in the 1989 finale in Japan, one blaming the other. Senna got his car moving again, via a steward bump start. Prost went immediately to the FIA office to lodge a formal complaint about Senna. Senna was DQ'd, for re-entering the track a few metres from where he left it.
Prost took the title whilst Dennis protested on Senna's behalf. Theres favouritism if ever you saw it. Dennis always claims to give equal treatment to drivers. OK, Prost was taking the number 1 to Ferrari for 1990, but still, Mclaren won the drivers and constructors titles and here he was defending Senna at the expense of Prost.
Senna's passion and intense drive came from his need to be the best, to prove himself against the best. To destroy the best.
For 1990 they weren't teammates, but they weren't friends at all. The rivalry carried on.
Another example of Prost's alienation from Dennis was Prost throwing his winning trophy at Monza in 89, when he'd just announced his move to Ferrari, to the Ferrari fans. Whoops! Again, Dennis helped aid the disintegration of relations no end.
All the way to another coming together in Japan for the title showdown. Senna later admitted to deliberately getting his own back for what happened in 1989. Senna was very passionate, driven by a sense of injustice, the system being against him. Prost was cool, calm and calculating.
They reconciled when Senna won his last race in Australia 1993 and Prost joined him in the podium. They were no longer rivals as Prost was retiring.
All I remember of their years at Mclaren was a completely poisonous relationship.
Opposites do not attract.
Best friends, work colleagues etc etc, fall out. Some friendships recover, get over blips, some aren't meant to or simply don't. For one reason or another, lack of effort or caring, some friendships fade.
Add to all this the intense sporting environment of F1 and you would have to say true friendships are hard to find. That's not to say they do not exist, just rarely between two drivers on the same team.
I've picked three examples of when "teammates" were nothing of the sort, where the relationship soured and people fought the enemies within, but each example has some striking similarities with the next. Indeed, Piquet Vs Mansell at Williams in 1986 is similar in nature to that of Alonso Vs Hamilton at Mclaren in 2007. That of established double world champion coming in to a British team either expecting to be number 1, or promised they would be number 1. In the case of Williams fate intervened and in the case of Mclaren Ron Dennis sold Alonso a dream that didn't exist (read, there seemed to have been an almighty misunderstanding and general fuckup at the contract signing!).
The first example, Prost Vs Senna...what hasn't been said about it? This was simply the case of Senna thinking "who is the best driver?" and then setting out to move to the best team, alongside the best driver, to destroy him.
Prost Vs Senna
Prost himself remarked once that Senna wanted to not beat him, but humiliate him. That was Monaco in 1988 when Senna was told to slow down whilst 55 seconds in the lead ahead of Prost. He kept pushing and pushing, then crashed out. No doubt Prost saw Senna wanting to humiliate him as a weakness. Despite the odd barbed remark, things remained cordial enough for 88, with Senna taking the title in Japan.
1989 was the beginning of the end...the end of 89 was the end of the end.
Senna had begun moulding the team around him and even though Prost won the title, Senna had effectively driven Prost out of his home simply because he refused to work with someone like Senna ever again.
They crashed into each other in the 1989 finale in Japan, one blaming the other. Senna got his car moving again, via a steward bump start. Prost went immediately to the FIA office to lodge a formal complaint about Senna. Senna was DQ'd, for re-entering the track a few metres from where he left it.
Prost took the title whilst Dennis protested on Senna's behalf. Theres favouritism if ever you saw it. Dennis always claims to give equal treatment to drivers. OK, Prost was taking the number 1 to Ferrari for 1990, but still, Mclaren won the drivers and constructors titles and here he was defending Senna at the expense of Prost.
Senna's passion and intense drive came from his need to be the best, to prove himself against the best. To destroy the best.
For 1990 they weren't teammates, but they weren't friends at all. The rivalry carried on.
Another example of Prost's alienation from Dennis was Prost throwing his winning trophy at Monza in 89, when he'd just announced his move to Ferrari, to the Ferrari fans. Whoops! Again, Dennis helped aid the disintegration of relations no end.
All the way to another coming together in Japan for the title showdown. Senna later admitted to deliberately getting his own back for what happened in 1989. Senna was very passionate, driven by a sense of injustice, the system being against him. Prost was cool, calm and calculating.
They reconciled when Senna won his last race in Australia 1993 and Prost joined him in the podium. They were no longer rivals as Prost was retiring.
All I remember of their years at Mclaren was a completely poisonous relationship.
Opposites do not attract.
Mansell Vs Piquet
Piquet arrived at Williams in 1986 as a double world champion. Mansell was the guy who wasnt supposed to be fast, to be easily put in his place by Piquet.
Piquet has stated previously that when he signed it was on the understanding he would be number 1. A month or so later the team was in a state of disarray after Frank Williams' accident.
With equal equipment and no team orders Mansell was inspired whilst Piquet was clearly rattled.
Through 1986 and 1987 the two had some titanic clashes on and off the track. Piquet always felt like the fighting outsider whilst Mansell was the fighting Brit, just fighting for everything.
Honda paid Piquet's salary and were non too impressed that through 1986 Williams never ordered Mansell to pull aside and let Piquet through. Piquet stated that had he been backed he would have won the title, rather than allowing in-team fighting. This is similar to Alonso and Hamilton.
The low point of this toxic teammate lineup included some rather nasty remarks from Piquet about Mansell's wife.
Alonso Vs Hamilton
Possibly the most toxic of the lot as everything went to pot within half a year of Alonso and Hamilton first teaming up at Mclaren.
Looking back now, it's easy to see that perhaps the issue wasn't between the drivers themselves, but more Alonso and Ron Dennis...therefore, Alonso Vs everyone at Mclaren. However, both drivers had plenty of anger towards each other at the time.
This year in F1 history was also set against the backdrop of "spygate", where some Mclaren team-members were found to have gotten their hands on Ferrari car data.
Has to be said, Alonso the antagonistic politics player came to the fore in 2007.
First signs of real trouble brewed in Monaco when Hamilton was annoyed about being told to hold station behind Alonso after the final pitstops.
Unbeknown to Ron Dennis, Alonso had seen some of the Ferrari data, but would later refuse to take part in the spygate trial.
As the season progressed, relations between all parties soured as we all realised there had clearly been some huge misunderstanding between Alonso and Dennis when they signed contracts. Alonso believed he was to be given number one status to lead Mclaren's charge to his third world title. Nobody was really prepared for how quick Hamilton was to be, apart from maybe hamilton himself.
This was an epic clash of ego's. The proud, double world champion who would not regard Hamilton as anything other than a young, brash upstart who he'd firmly put in his place. As the year progressed Hamilton's ego came to the fore and he almost kind of forgot his place in the standings of F1 driver greats. It was a great rookie season for sure, but he was not standing shoulder to shoulder through history with the very best just yet - his strut and actions suggested he thought otherwise.
By Hungary came around things were strained. Hamilton ignored a team order to let Alonso past him in qualifying for a clear run. This had been agreed before the race. Yes, we don't usually hear this bit, the bit where Hamilton started off a chain of events, not Alonso.
As revenge, Alonso came into refuel in the final moments of qualy, was cleared to go, and just waited patiently in his pitbox. Hamilton was queuing behind and as a result of Alonso delaying him, he missed a final run.
Dennis hauled Alonso's trainer off into the garage for a few harsh words.
Essentially, Mclaren was now tearing itself apart at the seams. For a man who always claims to be able to manage driver lineups and who is a huge control freak, Ron Dennis was getting a lot of things wrong as his house became a rampant mine of utter chaos.
Alonso got penalised for his actions and started with a grid penalty - not good for the team.
Allegedly Alonso also approached Dennis with regard to his knowledge of the Ferrari data. Alonso is then alleged to have told Dennis "give me number one status or I go to the FIA with this data". Dennis told him to go to the FIA as he hadnt a clue such data existed.
Things continued to sour between all three, with both drivers antagonising on and off the track.
As DC put it a while ago, Alonso had been sold a dream by Dennis...what it was, what it was supposed to be, they cannot agree on.
Dennis also claims not to favour drivers.....lets ask Mika and DC shall we?! Alonso took it as they arent backing him so they must be backing Hamilton then.
Alonso drove bloody well given all the chaos around him, the team being against him etc etc.
In the end, the chaos at Mclaren gifted the title to Kimi as the two Mclaren guys paid too much attention to each other.
Alonso was right about one thing - if Mclaren would have backed him, he'd have won the title.
Alonso and Vettel at RB will never happen...too toxic a mix. I dont think Kimi being at RB will be any less toxic either frankly. Vettel will spit his dummy when he loses.
A link to a video of before it all went wrong - funny.
Saturday, 27 April 2013
News roundup and results analysis
Justin:
Apologies to all....4...(?) readers for the rather dull title of this post.
I haven't blogged since Malaysia, which is a lifetime for me. My co-blogger has unofficially reduced his role from fellow founder of "I Was Having a Blog" and full-time blogger to making only special guest blogs when he really feels he needs to dump one out. Kimi would be proud, not answering to the calls of the fans or his team, listening only to what he wants to do and when. Or something.
I'm just going to pick out bits randomly from China and Bahrain.
China saw a massively dominant Fernando Alonso win which vaulted him right into the title fight. There were plenty of overtakes in an action packed race. Ferrari have a very fast car this year, and what's more is it's pace in qualifying which usually sees both drivers in the top 3/4 on the grid.
Unfortunately then in Bahrain Ferrari had plenty of issues, even though they qualified well and looked to be on for podiums in the race. Alonso had DRS problems which dropped him down the field, for a fight back to 8th. Massa had two punctures! Talk about bad luck.
Someone that cannot buy luck right now is Mark Webber. The wheels literally came off his campaign in China, nearly battering into Vettel in the process.
We saw hard and fast wheel to wheel racing with the Mclarens in Bahrain. People seemed to complain that Button complained too much about Perez's style of going racing.
To be fair to JB, if my teammate rammed me and nearly punctured my tyre whilst sending carbon fibre flying and then banging wheels with me at 200mph in another incident, I'd be annoyed too.
It was awesome to watch though wasn't it? :-).
Nico Rosberg bagged a very impressive pole in Bahrain then proceeded to travel backwards quickly during the race.
Lewis seems to be hanging on in third in the title race, 27 points behind Vettel, at the moment. To me though, in race trim, the Mercedes is just not as quick as Ferrari, red Bull or indeed Lotus.
Kimi has taken three podiums from four races thus far - consistency is key once again this year.
Alonso and Ferrari are quicker this year, but of a potential 4 podiums in the first 4 races, cock ups have seen many lost points - they should have told him not to use DRS again when he pitted at the very least.
He is now 4th, 30 points adrift of Vettel after the first 4 races.
It's a gap that cannot get any bigger and why a podium in Spain in two weeks is very much the order of the day.
Murray Walker has been presenting his fave moments from F1 though history for the BBC this year.
The last one was Villeneuve vs Arnoux in France in 1979. They'd be hauled before the stewards and banned for this type of racing these days, but boy did it look bloody awesome!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/22032240
Apologies to all....4...(?) readers for the rather dull title of this post.
I haven't blogged since Malaysia, which is a lifetime for me. My co-blogger has unofficially reduced his role from fellow founder of "I Was Having a Blog" and full-time blogger to making only special guest blogs when he really feels he needs to dump one out. Kimi would be proud, not answering to the calls of the fans or his team, listening only to what he wants to do and when. Or something.
I'm just going to pick out bits randomly from China and Bahrain.
China saw a massively dominant Fernando Alonso win which vaulted him right into the title fight. There were plenty of overtakes in an action packed race. Ferrari have a very fast car this year, and what's more is it's pace in qualifying which usually sees both drivers in the top 3/4 on the grid.
Unfortunately then in Bahrain Ferrari had plenty of issues, even though they qualified well and looked to be on for podiums in the race. Alonso had DRS problems which dropped him down the field, for a fight back to 8th. Massa had two punctures! Talk about bad luck.
Someone that cannot buy luck right now is Mark Webber. The wheels literally came off his campaign in China, nearly battering into Vettel in the process.
We saw hard and fast wheel to wheel racing with the Mclarens in Bahrain. People seemed to complain that Button complained too much about Perez's style of going racing.
To be fair to JB, if my teammate rammed me and nearly punctured my tyre whilst sending carbon fibre flying and then banging wheels with me at 200mph in another incident, I'd be annoyed too.
It was awesome to watch though wasn't it? :-).
Nico Rosberg bagged a very impressive pole in Bahrain then proceeded to travel backwards quickly during the race.
Lewis seems to be hanging on in third in the title race, 27 points behind Vettel, at the moment. To me though, in race trim, the Mercedes is just not as quick as Ferrari, red Bull or indeed Lotus.
Kimi has taken three podiums from four races thus far - consistency is key once again this year.
Alonso and Ferrari are quicker this year, but of a potential 4 podiums in the first 4 races, cock ups have seen many lost points - they should have told him not to use DRS again when he pitted at the very least.
He is now 4th, 30 points adrift of Vettel after the first 4 races.
It's a gap that cannot get any bigger and why a podium in Spain in two weeks is very much the order of the day.
Murray Walker has been presenting his fave moments from F1 though history for the BBC this year.
The last one was Villeneuve vs Arnoux in France in 1979. They'd be hauled before the stewards and banned for this type of racing these days, but boy did it look bloody awesome!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/22032240
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Kimi - A one stop strategy before the race ;-)
Justin:
Starting from where we left off in 2012 seems to be the main theme for Round 1 in Australia.
The three men on the podium were the top three in the title race last year and I would possibly put Kimi alongside Seb and Fernando in terms of real title contenders for 2013.
Of course, it's just one race and it's a quite particular street circuit in Albert Park. Malaysia has a lot of rather different characteristics as a track with fast, sweeping corners which may mean we'll see other cars coming to the front.
By way of a two stop strategy, and a one stop strategy before the race.... Kimi beat Fernando by over ten seconds in the end, with Vettel a further ten seconds down the road in third.
There was some great racing, nail biting stuff in the early stages with Vettel being hustled by the two very quick Ferrari's.
Mclaren are absolutely nowhere and Lewis must be loving his move to Mercedes, where he finished a solid if unspectacular fifth.
Sergio Perez's debut in his new team was frankly not good enough. Ok, its a difficult car, with JB struggling to ninth. But as we all know in F1 you must beat your team-mate first and foremost. I almost forgot Perez was in the race at all to be perfectly honest.
Mark Webber had a rubbish start yet again, from second on the grid. We learned later that he had an electronics fault AND no kers...does this guy get any good luck at all, ever?! Great recovery drive to sixth.
Adrian Sutil should get a mention - he led the race after a year out and didnt look out of place amongst the front runners at all. He faded due to differing strategies, but still finished a well earned seventh.
Good to see Massa is still keeping Alonso very honest, as he did in the last handful of races last year.
Alonso said the pace of the Lotus was a worry. Keeping things in perspective though, Ferrari have turned up with a very fast car. This time last year theirs was an absolute dog.
It seems Mclaren has brought the ugly duckling along this year.
Pecking order looks like Ferrari and Red Bull (RB may have better one lap pace but they seem to ruin their tyres in the race), Lotus then a small gap to Mercedes. Mclaren have fallen back and need to sort themselves out quickly.
To Malaysia in one week!
This isn't the Kimi we know - he usually drinks all the booze :-)
Starting from where we left off in 2012 seems to be the main theme for Round 1 in Australia.
The three men on the podium were the top three in the title race last year and I would possibly put Kimi alongside Seb and Fernando in terms of real title contenders for 2013.
Of course, it's just one race and it's a quite particular street circuit in Albert Park. Malaysia has a lot of rather different characteristics as a track with fast, sweeping corners which may mean we'll see other cars coming to the front.
By way of a two stop strategy, and a one stop strategy before the race.... Kimi beat Fernando by over ten seconds in the end, with Vettel a further ten seconds down the road in third.
There was some great racing, nail biting stuff in the early stages with Vettel being hustled by the two very quick Ferrari's.
Mclaren are absolutely nowhere and Lewis must be loving his move to Mercedes, where he finished a solid if unspectacular fifth.
Sergio Perez's debut in his new team was frankly not good enough. Ok, its a difficult car, with JB struggling to ninth. But as we all know in F1 you must beat your team-mate first and foremost. I almost forgot Perez was in the race at all to be perfectly honest.
Mark Webber had a rubbish start yet again, from second on the grid. We learned later that he had an electronics fault AND no kers...does this guy get any good luck at all, ever?! Great recovery drive to sixth.
Adrian Sutil should get a mention - he led the race after a year out and didnt look out of place amongst the front runners at all. He faded due to differing strategies, but still finished a well earned seventh.
Good to see Massa is still keeping Alonso very honest, as he did in the last handful of races last year.
Alonso said the pace of the Lotus was a worry. Keeping things in perspective though, Ferrari have turned up with a very fast car. This time last year theirs was an absolute dog.
It seems Mclaren has brought the ugly duckling along this year.
Pecking order looks like Ferrari and Red Bull (RB may have better one lap pace but they seem to ruin their tyres in the race), Lotus then a small gap to Mercedes. Mclaren have fallen back and need to sort themselves out quickly.
To Malaysia in one week!
This isn't the Kimi we know - he usually drinks all the booze :-)
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Still all to play for
Phil: This most incredible of seasons still has its finale to give us, as for the fourth time in six seasons the title will be decided at the final race of the year. And what better way to mark the occasion than with a 'comeback' (hopefully more succesful than Schumi's) blog.
Let's crunch some numbers. Vettel is 13 points ahead of Alonso, with a maximum of 25 points still up for grabs. All Vettel need do is finish in the top four and he will be world champion. Alonso must be on the podium to have any hope of his third title this season. If Alonso wins, Vettel need only finish fourth to retain his title. If Alonso is second, seventh place will do, and if he is third, ninth. On the other hand, were Vettel's alternator to fail, as it has twice this year and as Webber's did last time out in Austin, a podium would guarantee Alonso the title. There are permutations in which both of them would score the same number of points, after 20 races, in which case Vettel would win the championship by five wins to Alonso's three (or four) - perhaps a fitting way to end one of the closest seasons ever, with the closest title margin ever.
One way or another, one or other of them will join an elite band of triple world champions. Vettel, if he can defend his lead, will join Schumacher (2000-2004) and Fangio (1954-57), the only men ever to have won the world championship three times in a row.
In some ways, the pressure is on Vettel - it is his to lose. Alonso simply needs to go balls out for the win, and hope for rain, a safety car incident, mechanical failure at Red Bull, or all three.
My co-blogger and I will be there, sort of, at the final I Was Having a Blog Live! event of the year. One of us may even blog afterwards.
Let's crunch some numbers. Vettel is 13 points ahead of Alonso, with a maximum of 25 points still up for grabs. All Vettel need do is finish in the top four and he will be world champion. Alonso must be on the podium to have any hope of his third title this season. If Alonso wins, Vettel need only finish fourth to retain his title. If Alonso is second, seventh place will do, and if he is third, ninth. On the other hand, were Vettel's alternator to fail, as it has twice this year and as Webber's did last time out in Austin, a podium would guarantee Alonso the title. There are permutations in which both of them would score the same number of points, after 20 races, in which case Vettel would win the championship by five wins to Alonso's three (or four) - perhaps a fitting way to end one of the closest seasons ever, with the closest title margin ever.
One way or another, one or other of them will join an elite band of triple world champions. Vettel, if he can defend his lead, will join Schumacher (2000-2004) and Fangio (1954-57), the only men ever to have won the world championship three times in a row.
In some ways, the pressure is on Vettel - it is his to lose. Alonso simply needs to go balls out for the win, and hope for rain, a safety car incident, mechanical failure at Red Bull, or all three.
My co-blogger and I will be there, sort of, at the final I Was Having a Blog Live! event of the year. One of us may even blog afterwards.
Monday, 25 June 2012
Valencia??....boring race??
Justin:
Lets start with this f1 funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81QPQE0qJQc
My esteemed colleague and I just had an hour long chat on the phone about Valencia, the F1 season to date, our live event coming up, countdown to Belgium and many other things in between.
The European GP served up a dramatic, overtaking ladden race from start to finish. It just goes to show that F1 really is IF spelt backwards!
IF Seb hadnt have broken down, nobody would have caught him as I'd imagine he would have scampered off into the distance again after the safety car, such was the speed he was showing in quali and throughout the race. Let's not forget he was four tenths quicker than second placed Lewis on the grid. Amazing when you think that at one point at the end of Q2 the red car of Alonso was 11th and just two tenths off pole!
Poor Roman Grosjean suffered a similar fate to Seb a few laps after being taken with force by Fernando Alonso. Lets face it, it wont take me long to get onto just what a stonking drive his was.
After qualifying he said he'd be aiming for fifth or sixth and would probably lose out heavily to Hamilton and Vettel in the title race. A few balls out overtakes later coupled with yet another Mclaren pit fuck up (compare this to Ferrari doing the quickest stops constantly throughout the year) and Vettel retiring, then you have an emotional home win for the guy that never ever gives up. He is always there, lurking in the podium spots ready to pounce. Consistently fast and one of the all time greats. End of.
What a fantasic scene it was when he parked up in front of the grandstands and soaked up the atmosphere with the marshalls and his adoring public.
He was on the podium with two former Ferrari champions in Kimi and Michael. Well done Schumi!
Fair play to Mark, from 19th to 4th - beautiful drive there mate!
Maldonado took out Lewis with a lap to go - oooppps. I still don't think Lewis was totally blameless really as, ok, you say Pastor was coming off the track back into Lewis, but did Lewis not ease him off the track in the first place?
Still, the title race is, to me anyway, looking like the top four of Alonso, Webber, Hamilton and Vettel to duke it out for the rest of the year now. Next in fifth is Rosberg and I don't see him picking up big points anytime soon.
Poor old JB - just what is going on with him? Perhaps the Mclaren is rather difficult to drive all of a sudden and Lewis can just drive around these issues?
Elsewhere, "I Was Having a Blog" has yet another of our popular live events coming up in Stonehouse for the British GP weekend - which I personally cannot wait for!
Just three GP's...Britain, Germany and Hungary...then....we're off to Spa baby....SPA!!!!!!!!!!
Our Nige was voted number 13 in the BBC all time greatest driver list....just who is next? More importantly, who is next in our F1 Hero series?
To sign off I have to leave you all with this - amongst all the bloody hillarious stuff here, Mark Webber at 1 minute 22 seconds...he loves those arms on the chair!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuIiQ8wfyMQ
Lets start with this f1 funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81QPQE0qJQc
My esteemed colleague and I just had an hour long chat on the phone about Valencia, the F1 season to date, our live event coming up, countdown to Belgium and many other things in between.
The European GP served up a dramatic, overtaking ladden race from start to finish. It just goes to show that F1 really is IF spelt backwards!
IF Seb hadnt have broken down, nobody would have caught him as I'd imagine he would have scampered off into the distance again after the safety car, such was the speed he was showing in quali and throughout the race. Let's not forget he was four tenths quicker than second placed Lewis on the grid. Amazing when you think that at one point at the end of Q2 the red car of Alonso was 11th and just two tenths off pole!
Poor Roman Grosjean suffered a similar fate to Seb a few laps after being taken with force by Fernando Alonso. Lets face it, it wont take me long to get onto just what a stonking drive his was.
After qualifying he said he'd be aiming for fifth or sixth and would probably lose out heavily to Hamilton and Vettel in the title race. A few balls out overtakes later coupled with yet another Mclaren pit fuck up (compare this to Ferrari doing the quickest stops constantly throughout the year) and Vettel retiring, then you have an emotional home win for the guy that never ever gives up. He is always there, lurking in the podium spots ready to pounce. Consistently fast and one of the all time greats. End of.
What a fantasic scene it was when he parked up in front of the grandstands and soaked up the atmosphere with the marshalls and his adoring public.
He was on the podium with two former Ferrari champions in Kimi and Michael. Well done Schumi!
Fair play to Mark, from 19th to 4th - beautiful drive there mate!
Maldonado took out Lewis with a lap to go - oooppps. I still don't think Lewis was totally blameless really as, ok, you say Pastor was coming off the track back into Lewis, but did Lewis not ease him off the track in the first place?
Still, the title race is, to me anyway, looking like the top four of Alonso, Webber, Hamilton and Vettel to duke it out for the rest of the year now. Next in fifth is Rosberg and I don't see him picking up big points anytime soon.
Poor old JB - just what is going on with him? Perhaps the Mclaren is rather difficult to drive all of a sudden and Lewis can just drive around these issues?
Elsewhere, "I Was Having a Blog" has yet another of our popular live events coming up in Stonehouse for the British GP weekend - which I personally cannot wait for!
Just three GP's...Britain, Germany and Hungary...then....we're off to Spa baby....SPA!!!!!!!!!!
Our Nige was voted number 13 in the BBC all time greatest driver list....just who is next? More importantly, who is next in our F1 Hero series?
To sign off I have to leave you all with this - amongst all the bloody hillarious stuff here, Mark Webber at 1 minute 22 seconds...he loves those arms on the chair!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuIiQ8wfyMQ
Monday, 28 May 2012
Monaco Magic
On a track which offers the ultimate test of a driver, Mark Webber has re-written the history books with his Monaco GP win. He becomes the only Aussie to win the flagship event twice in the history of the sport. He has also won the race in two of the last three years.
He also becomes the sixth winner in six races this year, which has never before happened in F1. Though he didn't seem to care for this particular stat afterwards, saying that the Monaco win would be special regardless of this record.
(image above is from BBC website - we ain't breaching no copyrights here)
And did he do it in some style or what!
His first win of the year catapaults him to joint second in the title race - he is firmly in it ala 2010. Welcome back mate.
At the end of the race he finished just half a second ahead of Rosberg, followed in a train of cars by Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and Massa. For most of the last twenty laps these guys were seperated by no more than 6 seconds. Fantastic stuff! At one point when the rain started falling, each was all over the back of the guy in front. At one point, they were all well under a second from each other.
Webber got a flyer (for once) at the start whilst Grosjean got in all sorts of bother, punting into Schumi and spinning himself off.
Maldonado had a horror weekend frankly. He used his car as an angry weapon on Perez in quali then crashed out in the race.
Webber, Rosberg, Hamilton and Alonso (all on the softer compound) all stopped for harder styres around laps 29 and 30. By way of a mega in lap Alonso managed to jump Hamilton in the stops, and of course whilst all these guys pitted Vettel cruised by on his harder tyres that he had started on.
Good strategy by Red Bull saw Vettel eventually move from 9th on the grid to 4th at the end which represents a good day for Vettel really.
When Vettel pitted around lap 46 for the softer compound tyres when he was around 17 seconds ahead of Webber, but crucially 20-21 ahead of Hamilton. So, he re-emerged from the pits in 4th.
From lap 47 to the finish on lap 78 we were given Formula 1 racing of the highest order by guys who did not put a foot wrong all day.
It made my neck hairs stand on end watching the train of cars...Webber, Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton...Massa (sort of hanging on just about at the back), covered by so little time for so many laps.
Beautiful!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18228584
Just watch from 5 minutes onwards on this BBC highlights clip!
To race this hard, fast and close is absolutely magnificent. At Monaco you do not get away with mistakes as you would on other tracks - you hit a wall and thats that.
It was a pleasure watching these guys fight.
We truly are in a golden era for F1 - I don't care what negative remarks people have about tyres. F1 drivers adapt - thats a specific skill all the best guys have.
Time for a quick sub-heading feature!
Webber - Driver of the day, on a day when there were a fair few contenders. Faultless race and from pole too.
Schumi - Life in the old dog yet as proved by his blistering quali lap, only to be scuppered by yet again more mechanical issues in the race.
Vettel - Keeps picking up points - great drive from 9th to 4th.
Rosberg - Beautiful drive too - kept Webber honest throughout.
Hamilton - Picked up points again, but are Mclaren going backwards? He seemed to point the finger firmly at their door again, seemingly annoying Whitmarsh a little in the process.
Button - One to forget - now 31 points of the championship lead after 3 rubbish races.
Di Resta - Fantastic drive through to 7th. I doubt he will be at Force India next year.
Alonso - This is where my objectivity may take a battering from my co-blogger, but I have seen various reports from differing sources all saying that Alonso is essentially driving as well as he ever has, doing extraordinary things in an ordinary car (it was a dog at the start of the year, but Ferrari do seem to be turning it into something better. In the meantime Alono's driving ability alone is keeping him in the hunt. He is utterly relentless and never gives up and is always lurking in the points. DC himself called Alonso unbelievable and the BBC's Gary Anderson stated in his blog:
"In Alonso's case, his position is simply down to the quality of the driver. He has done astounding things with that car. He's always good off the start, always gets stuck in, and then fights the battle from then on."
The more I read about people complaining about tyres (fans?) saying they want to know who the fastest guys in the fastest cars are, not have this apparent lottery we are having with six different winners in six races......I say to you, look at the title standings....and shut the fuck up!!!!!
The cream always rises to the top, no matter the conditions, rules etc.....
Alonso leads Webber and Vettel followed by Hamilton, Rosberg, Kimi and Button....
Five of those seven have been contesting the title for the past two years and keeping race wins amongst themselves exclusively (Webber, Vettel, Alonso, Button and Hamilton) and one of the others is a former world champion.
What we have is near enough to a level playing field for the golden generation of Formula One drivers.
Let them get on with it!
The number seven
Phil: Mark Webber's win at Monaco means we've had six winners out of six races this season, with six world champions on the grid. But today's blog will be brought to you by the number seven (not 666), which I think is the number of serious contenders for the world championship.
That number alone shows what an astonishing season it's been so far, and shows every sign of continuing to be. Let's take a closer look at them, in reverse order for dramatic effect....
7th (45pts) - Jenson Button
Jenson won the first race of the season but since then a string of poor results culminating in an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance and DNF at Monaco have put him well behind his teammate. Never bet against McLaren though, and Jenson remains in my view one of the more underrated drivers on the grid, crowded out by the breadth of talent elsewhere.
6th (51pts) - Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi took his world title by a single point in 2007, and ever since then, or perhaps even earlier, he's been known more for his toiletary habits than for his driving ability. I for one have taken the piss out of him at every opportunity since, and I have to admit that he has surprised and impressed me perhaps more than anyone else this season. I'll say something else - I would be genuinely pleased to see him win a race this season, and there's every reason to think he will. Probably more than one.
5th (59pts) - Nico Rosberg
Nico took a masterful and very popular maiden win in China. In 1982, a similarly chaotic and unpredictable season, his father Keke took his maiden win and the world championship, winning only one race that year. Might his son be able to emulate this feat?
4th (63pts) - Lewis Hamilton
If Jenson is having the season Lewis had last year (well, maybe not that bad), then Lewis is having the season Jenson had last year. He hasn't won a race yet, but has been more consistent than anyone except perhaps Webber, having stood on the podium three times, and has scored more points than three of the six race winners.
3rd (73pts) - Mark Webber
Even more delicious than taking his second Monaco GP win was probably, for Mark Webber, drawing level on points with his teammate Vettel. After a season in which he couldn't hope to compete with Vettel despite having the same machinery, Mark will be a serious challenge this year.
2nd (73pts) - Sebastian Vettel
Never bet against the reigning world champion Vettel. No one team has come close to dominating this season, and all the top teams and drivers have had one or more races where they have been hopelessly off the pace, but the numbers show that Red Bull are still at the front if anyone is - they have the lead of the constructors' championship and two out of the top three drivers.
1st (76pts) - Fernando Alonso
My co-blogger is very pleased that Fernando is still at the head of the title race, even though he's having to absolutely wring the Ferrari's neck to keep his lead. The consensus in the paddock is that Alonso is the best of a very talented bunch, and his performances this season have done his reputation no harm at all. Having said that, a fragile lead in the title race at this early stage in the season shouldn't give anyone the illusion that he has a command over the championship - in a season like this, unlike last year, the world champion will be the man who gets to the end of the last race with the most points in the bag, and every single point will count.
Just ask Nico Rosberg's dad.
That number alone shows what an astonishing season it's been so far, and shows every sign of continuing to be. Let's take a closer look at them, in reverse order for dramatic effect....
7th (45pts) - Jenson Button
Jenson won the first race of the season but since then a string of poor results culminating in an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance and DNF at Monaco have put him well behind his teammate. Never bet against McLaren though, and Jenson remains in my view one of the more underrated drivers on the grid, crowded out by the breadth of talent elsewhere.
6th (51pts) - Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi took his world title by a single point in 2007, and ever since then, or perhaps even earlier, he's been known more for his toiletary habits than for his driving ability. I for one have taken the piss out of him at every opportunity since, and I have to admit that he has surprised and impressed me perhaps more than anyone else this season. I'll say something else - I would be genuinely pleased to see him win a race this season, and there's every reason to think he will. Probably more than one.
5th (59pts) - Nico Rosberg
Nico took a masterful and very popular maiden win in China. In 1982, a similarly chaotic and unpredictable season, his father Keke took his maiden win and the world championship, winning only one race that year. Might his son be able to emulate this feat?
4th (63pts) - Lewis Hamilton
If Jenson is having the season Lewis had last year (well, maybe not that bad), then Lewis is having the season Jenson had last year. He hasn't won a race yet, but has been more consistent than anyone except perhaps Webber, having stood on the podium three times, and has scored more points than three of the six race winners.
3rd (73pts) - Mark Webber
Even more delicious than taking his second Monaco GP win was probably, for Mark Webber, drawing level on points with his teammate Vettel. After a season in which he couldn't hope to compete with Vettel despite having the same machinery, Mark will be a serious challenge this year.
2nd (73pts) - Sebastian Vettel
Never bet against the reigning world champion Vettel. No one team has come close to dominating this season, and all the top teams and drivers have had one or more races where they have been hopelessly off the pace, but the numbers show that Red Bull are still at the front if anyone is - they have the lead of the constructors' championship and two out of the top three drivers.
1st (76pts) - Fernando Alonso
My co-blogger is very pleased that Fernando is still at the head of the title race, even though he's having to absolutely wring the Ferrari's neck to keep his lead. The consensus in the paddock is that Alonso is the best of a very talented bunch, and his performances this season have done his reputation no harm at all. Having said that, a fragile lead in the title race at this early stage in the season shouldn't give anyone the illusion that he has a command over the championship - in a season like this, unlike last year, the world champion will be the man who gets to the end of the last race with the most points in the bag, and every single point will count.
Just ask Nico Rosberg's dad.
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Bring on the sub-headings
Phil: I completely agree (as always) with my learned co-blogger that so much was going on at Sepang on Sunday that we need an A to Z to find our way through it.
A. Alonso
General consensus in the paddock is that Alonso is the best driver of his generation, but that he rarely has a car to flatter his talents. General consensus also says that this year's Ferrari is the worst car they've built in years. At Sepang, as in any wet race, the performance differential between a good car, a mediocre car and a really awful car is to a certain extent levelled off, and raw driver talent plays a much bigger role. Alonso's win tends to prove both theories correct. Together with his fifth place in Melbourne, it also gives him the lead in the world championship. But - and it's a big but - even he acknowledged after the race that at dry races it's going to be damage limitation.
B. Bruno Senna
Nice one.
C. Coverage
I'm afraid I don't subscribe to any of conspiracy theories doing the rounds about Sky sabotaging the BBC's access to the juicy bits. All broadcasters' pictures are the same as they come direct from FOM (Formula One Management), so this should really be under B for Bernie. Or even B for bollocks. After all, it would hardly be the first time the producer has shown us a shot of someone pitting from eighth place when someone else is challenging from the lead.
G. Grosjean
Qualifies well, goes off in first lap incidents. We're only two races in though and the first one was a simple racing incident (at the time I'd have put the blame more at Maldonado's feet, actually) so I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
K. Kimi
Before the season started I confidently predicted Kimi would be a laughing stock by the beginning of the European season. However, his pre-race poo strategy is really paying off and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he might actually win a race this year.
L. Lewis
I fear my co-blogger may have misinterpreted my earlier blog as tending to be supportive of Lewis when I was actually taking the piss out of him. He seems not to have taken the hint either (anyone would think he doesn't actually read this blog), so I think things now need to be spelt out to him.
Lewis. When you first came into F1, I was a huge fan. I was impressed by your maturity as well as your talent. I was impressed that you weren't overawed by having a double world champion for a team-mate. I was genuinely over the moon the next year when you became the first British world champion in over a decade having given us the Official Best Race Ever (see last year). But now I have tell you you irritate me more than any of the other drivers. More than Kimi. More than Alonso. More than Vettel. More even than Michael Schumacher. And the reason is this. When things don't go your way, you sulk. You're second in the world championship, and you're sulking now. And I think the reason you sulk is that you can't deal with failure. Your life except for the last 2-3 years has been one success after the other. You've been a champion in every form of motorsport you've entered, including the very highest. So you've never learned that sometimes, in racing, and in life, things don't go your way. Sometimes you can give it every ounce of breath and every drop of sweat you have, and still watch it all fall to pieces on the very last lap. Just look at Maldonado last weekend. Some drivers spend their whole careers doing that. You're lucky, you're a world champion. But you're not special. You don't have a god-given right to have everything your own way. When they don't, that doesn't mean there is some kind of conspiracy against you, that's just racing. The thing that worries me the most, Lewis, is that you're slowly but surely turning into Ayrton Senna. By the end of the season you might very well be shunting Jenson off into the kitty litter at the first corner at Suzuka, then telling everyone he had it coming to him. And you know what happens then. Gerhard Berger throws your briefcase out of a helicopter and fills your hotel room with frogs. Oh yes. Don't say we didn't warn you.
P. Perez
It's pissing down with rain and a promising young Latin American driver scores an amazing second place which was very nearly a win. As James Hunt might have said, this marks the arrival of Sergio Perez as a major new talent within Formula 1.
S. Schumi
He's 43 years old, he was world champion 7 times and won 91 races along the way. He has nothing to prove to anyone, but he is still beating his team-mate, has started both races this year from the second row of the grid and seems to be having the time of his life (well, apart from winning everything in sight for about 10 years). I'm actually almost warming to the old sod.
V. Vettel
Slightly uncharitable about Karthikeyan I thought. It's difficult to go any faster when you've only got an HRT to drive. However we won't put him in the naughty corner, because Lewis is already there.
On thing is 'for sure' (as racing drivers don't say any more). We're in for a cracking season.
A. Alonso
General consensus in the paddock is that Alonso is the best driver of his generation, but that he rarely has a car to flatter his talents. General consensus also says that this year's Ferrari is the worst car they've built in years. At Sepang, as in any wet race, the performance differential between a good car, a mediocre car and a really awful car is to a certain extent levelled off, and raw driver talent plays a much bigger role. Alonso's win tends to prove both theories correct. Together with his fifth place in Melbourne, it also gives him the lead in the world championship. But - and it's a big but - even he acknowledged after the race that at dry races it's going to be damage limitation.
B. Bruno Senna
Nice one.
C. Coverage
I'm afraid I don't subscribe to any of conspiracy theories doing the rounds about Sky sabotaging the BBC's access to the juicy bits. All broadcasters' pictures are the same as they come direct from FOM (Formula One Management), so this should really be under B for Bernie. Or even B for bollocks. After all, it would hardly be the first time the producer has shown us a shot of someone pitting from eighth place when someone else is challenging from the lead.
G. Grosjean
Qualifies well, goes off in first lap incidents. We're only two races in though and the first one was a simple racing incident (at the time I'd have put the blame more at Maldonado's feet, actually) so I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
K. Kimi
Before the season started I confidently predicted Kimi would be a laughing stock by the beginning of the European season. However, his pre-race poo strategy is really paying off and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he might actually win a race this year.
L. Lewis
I fear my co-blogger may have misinterpreted my earlier blog as tending to be supportive of Lewis when I was actually taking the piss out of him. He seems not to have taken the hint either (anyone would think he doesn't actually read this blog), so I think things now need to be spelt out to him.
Lewis. When you first came into F1, I was a huge fan. I was impressed by your maturity as well as your talent. I was impressed that you weren't overawed by having a double world champion for a team-mate. I was genuinely over the moon the next year when you became the first British world champion in over a decade having given us the Official Best Race Ever (see last year). But now I have tell you you irritate me more than any of the other drivers. More than Kimi. More than Alonso. More than Vettel. More even than Michael Schumacher. And the reason is this. When things don't go your way, you sulk. You're second in the world championship, and you're sulking now. And I think the reason you sulk is that you can't deal with failure. Your life except for the last 2-3 years has been one success after the other. You've been a champion in every form of motorsport you've entered, including the very highest. So you've never learned that sometimes, in racing, and in life, things don't go your way. Sometimes you can give it every ounce of breath and every drop of sweat you have, and still watch it all fall to pieces on the very last lap. Just look at Maldonado last weekend. Some drivers spend their whole careers doing that. You're lucky, you're a world champion. But you're not special. You don't have a god-given right to have everything your own way. When they don't, that doesn't mean there is some kind of conspiracy against you, that's just racing. The thing that worries me the most, Lewis, is that you're slowly but surely turning into Ayrton Senna. By the end of the season you might very well be shunting Jenson off into the kitty litter at the first corner at Suzuka, then telling everyone he had it coming to him. And you know what happens then. Gerhard Berger throws your briefcase out of a helicopter and fills your hotel room with frogs. Oh yes. Don't say we didn't warn you.
P. Perez
It's pissing down with rain and a promising young Latin American driver scores an amazing second place which was very nearly a win. As James Hunt might have said, this marks the arrival of Sergio Perez as a major new talent within Formula 1.
S. Schumi
He's 43 years old, he was world champion 7 times and won 91 races along the way. He has nothing to prove to anyone, but he is still beating his team-mate, has started both races this year from the second row of the grid and seems to be having the time of his life (well, apart from winning everything in sight for about 10 years). I'm actually almost warming to the old sod.
V. Vettel
Slightly uncharitable about Karthikeyan I thought. It's difficult to go any faster when you've only got an HRT to drive. However we won't put him in the naughty corner, because Lewis is already there.
On thing is 'for sure' (as racing drivers don't say any more). We're in for a cracking season.
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Grand prix legends
Phil: I feel I ought to alert to my co-blogger to a few feature the BBC are adding to this year's F1 coverage. They may not have all the races live, they may not have Martin Brundle, but they do have a rundown of the top 20 greatest F1 drivers ever, according to their team of pundits.
They'll be announcing one each race (assuming there are 20 races this year), in reverse order. No 20 is Jochen Rindt. They've revealed that, intriguingly, four of the current crop are on the list, which begs the question - which four? Schumacher, Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton would be my guess. Others may of course disagree.....
It's this weekend. Can you believe it?
They'll be announcing one each race (assuming there are 20 races this year), in reverse order. No 20 is Jochen Rindt. They've revealed that, intriguingly, four of the current crop are on the list, which begs the question - which four? Schumacher, Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton would be my guess. Others may of course disagree.....
It's this weekend. Can you believe it?
Monday, 14 November 2011
Lewis love-in
Phil: Just when we thought the season was all over, a Vettel DNF and a Lewis love-in. Who'd have thought it?
For most of this season, Hamilton has seemed unable to do anything right. I've lost count of the number of times he's tangled with Felipe Massa, sometimes at successive race weekends. We speculated that it might be personal issues, or the fact that for the first time in his career he's been consistently outraced by his teammate. Whatever it was, he put his demons to bed yesterday and his second (or third?) race win of the year.
Not only that, but a reconciliation, nay even a love-in, with his old arch-rival Fernando Alonso. Embracing on the podium? 'The greatest driver of his generation' (or something like that)?
Maybe Vettel's puncture robbed us of a titanic scrap for the win, or maybe Vettel would have walked it given four tyres with air in rather than three. But the second half of this season to my mind has been a bit flat. Vettel has been driving within himself and the others, as I've commented before, seem to have the same tussles for the same places - Alonso against Webber, Hamiton against Massa, Schumacher against Rosberg - every race. Don't get me wrong, the first half of the season gave us some classic races - Canada will stay in my mind for a long time - even though the championship was never really in doubt, but now the fizz has well and truly gone out of it, as if each driver knows his part in the play and acts it accordingly.
So we go on to 2012. The top four teams are retaining their current line-ups (which may well mean more of the same next year) but further down the grid things are more fluid. As we've said, three drivers are in the running for the no 1 seat at Williams, of all places: Barrichello, Sutil and potentially a returning Kimi Raikkonen. Let's hope that if and when Frank Williams calls Raikkonen to offer him a drive, he's not too busy having a shit to take the call. Actually, let's hope he is.
There are no less than four drivers in the offing at Renault, who we must remember to call Lotus next year. Rumour has it they'll go for Grosjean, who's famous for not being as crap as Nelson Piquet Jr., and Petrov, who isn't famous for anything. Personally I'd much rather see Bruno Senna, and a fully recovered Robert Kubica.
But then at least one of those options, sadly, is starting to look very unlikely.
For most of this season, Hamilton has seemed unable to do anything right. I've lost count of the number of times he's tangled with Felipe Massa, sometimes at successive race weekends. We speculated that it might be personal issues, or the fact that for the first time in his career he's been consistently outraced by his teammate. Whatever it was, he put his demons to bed yesterday and his second (or third?) race win of the year.
Not only that, but a reconciliation, nay even a love-in, with his old arch-rival Fernando Alonso. Embracing on the podium? 'The greatest driver of his generation' (or something like that)?
Maybe Vettel's puncture robbed us of a titanic scrap for the win, or maybe Vettel would have walked it given four tyres with air in rather than three. But the second half of this season to my mind has been a bit flat. Vettel has been driving within himself and the others, as I've commented before, seem to have the same tussles for the same places - Alonso against Webber, Hamiton against Massa, Schumacher against Rosberg - every race. Don't get me wrong, the first half of the season gave us some classic races - Canada will stay in my mind for a long time - even though the championship was never really in doubt, but now the fizz has well and truly gone out of it, as if each driver knows his part in the play and acts it accordingly.
So we go on to 2012. The top four teams are retaining their current line-ups (which may well mean more of the same next year) but further down the grid things are more fluid. As we've said, three drivers are in the running for the no 1 seat at Williams, of all places: Barrichello, Sutil and potentially a returning Kimi Raikkonen. Let's hope that if and when Frank Williams calls Raikkonen to offer him a drive, he's not too busy having a shit to take the call. Actually, let's hope he is.
There are no less than four drivers in the offing at Renault, who we must remember to call Lotus next year. Rumour has it they'll go for Grosjean, who's famous for not being as crap as Nelson Piquet Jr., and Petrov, who isn't famous for anything. Personally I'd much rather see Bruno Senna, and a fully recovered Robert Kubica.
But then at least one of those options, sadly, is starting to look very unlikely.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Monza
Phil: I have fond memories of Monza, watching the 2008 race in the wet, standing by the armco on the inside of the entry to the Ascari chicane, where the track cuts underneath the old, banked track. Vettel took his maiden victory that day, and he won again today. It was a good race, but not a great race, and one that he dominated completely. Once he had passed a fast starting Alonso - almost unbelievably, around the outside of Curva Grande - he never looked in danger of not winning.
Button, who passed Alonso, Hamilton and Schumacher to finish second, seems to me to be at the peak of his game. He has consistently outdriven his teammate Hamilton this year, hasn't made the mistakes that Hamilton has, and has performed particularly well at the real drivers' tracks, like Spa, or Montreal in the wet where he drove a really masterful race. I think that technically he is one of the best and most underrated drivers out there.
What else happened today? Bruno Senna, apparently unnoticed by the BBC team, took the first points of his career today with ninth place. And as a Phil who is often mistaken for a Paul, it was refreshing to hear Paul di Resta's race engineer, who ought to know him fairly well by now, call him 'Phil' over the radio.
Vettel is now 112 points ahead of Alonso, and 117 points ahead of both Button and Webber, with six races left. If Vettel wins his third race in a row next time out at Singapore, Button must finish second (again) and Alonso must finish third (again) for either of them to stand even a mathematical chance of taking the title. Put it another way. Vettel could be world champion in a fortnight's time.
Button, who passed Alonso, Hamilton and Schumacher to finish second, seems to me to be at the peak of his game. He has consistently outdriven his teammate Hamilton this year, hasn't made the mistakes that Hamilton has, and has performed particularly well at the real drivers' tracks, like Spa, or Montreal in the wet where he drove a really masterful race. I think that technically he is one of the best and most underrated drivers out there.
What else happened today? Bruno Senna, apparently unnoticed by the BBC team, took the first points of his career today with ninth place. And as a Phil who is often mistaken for a Paul, it was refreshing to hear Paul di Resta's race engineer, who ought to know him fairly well by now, call him 'Phil' over the radio.
Vettel is now 112 points ahead of Alonso, and 117 points ahead of both Button and Webber, with six races left. If Vettel wins his third race in a row next time out at Singapore, Button must finish second (again) and Alonso must finish third (again) for either of them to stand even a mathematical chance of taking the title. Put it another way. Vettel could be world champion in a fortnight's time.
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