Justin:
Well, there is so much to cover. Perhaps the thing to kick off with is to say, that whilst I was attempting to blog after every race this year, I noticed the last race I did so for was Singapore.
This is kind of appropriate. Nico Rosberg obliterated Hamilton in Singapore, probably giving his best performance of 2016. Nico himself said after that it was his best ever qualifying.
And so, from Singapore to Abu Dhabi - Nico Rosberg is our 2016 Formula 1 World Champion.
It was an exciting race, thanks in most part to Hamilton going only as quickly (or slowly) as he needed to, to back Rosberg into the chasing pack.
I don't understand the amount of backlash in the media regarding the tactics employed by Hamilton really. Rosberg himself has said he understood why he raced like that.
It truly was the drive of a champion by Nico Rosberg. The dive on Verstappen was a balls out overtake of the finest margins. Absorbing all the pressure as Hamilton drove slowly ahead whilst Vettel and Verstappen filled his mirrors. Brilliant under pressure. He held firm.
A worthy World Champion, for sure ;-).
Time to go
And then, a shock for us all. Nico announced his retirement a couple of days after the race.
After it had sunk in with me, I thought, you know what...fair play mate. He is happy with his choice. He has achieved all he wanted to and 2016 was the most emotional and stressful for him. He was under a lot of pressure, especially from Japan onwards. The relief was etched all over his face after he won.
I watched the FIA Prize Giving online and it was awesome, for sure.
Speculation
And now, silly season commences again. Most seats for 2017 had been filled, but Rosberg leaving could potentially start another merry-go-round.
There are a lot of rumours swirling around about this, and a lot of funny internet memes about the race to the Mercedes seat.
Will Vettel want to tear up his Ferrari contract? I don't think they will be winning next year. I expect Red Bull to be the ones who go up against Mercedes. Will Alonso even be allowed to leave McLaren? Will Mercedes go for a number 2? If they do, it will be a boring 2017 watching Hamilton race up front with no fast teammate to push him.
All will be revealed. Into a winter of over 3 months with no F1 we go.
Enjoy your next role as father and husband Champion.
Showing posts with label nico rosberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nico rosberg. Show all posts
Sunday, 4 December 2016
Monday, 29 August 2016
Round 13: Belgium
Justin:
Welcome back old friend. Whilst in my last post I said I needed a break from F1, a month is long enough!
Ok, once again there was no real racing for first, right at the front. This has been my bugbear for a lot of races this year.
But, there was absolute mayhem and carnage on the opening few laps which distracted from Rosberg scampering off into the distance.
Max, Kimi and Seb nerfed into each other on the first corner and Max and Kimi kept coming across each other during the race too. The first corner incident really was not the fault of Kimi at all. Seb had to turn into the corner, but perhaps didn't see Kimi. He definitely didn't see Max.
Now, we'll give Max the benefit of the doubt for his first of many cock ups during the race. But, whilst a lot of people are blaming Seb...did nobody see that Max was actually fully on and over the kerb and he sort of just went straight on into Kimi?
He later moved over on Kimi at 200mph, after Kimi had made his move. Dangerous driving Max. If Kimi is bothered enough to be vocal about it after the race, then, well, you know it's a shit move mate.
The supidity of youth me thinks. Max later said he was pretty much driving angry after the first corner incident and said something along the lines of "better push him off than let him by".
Jesus christ. Calm down young man. That attitude will get people killed.
Elsewhere, I don't believe Rosbergs race was as easy as made out. The red flag restart will have required upmost concentration.
Great drives from Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Alonso (the latter two sailed through the grid as they started on medium tyres as everyone in front of them pitted due to safety cars and general utter carnage).
In all the mayhem I totally missed that Button had been punted out too!
So, nine points in the title race - Let's see a straight fight between the Merc boys in Monza please.
One last thing. Even if a driver I despised was the winner, I would never boo them if I was at a Grand Prix.
I couldn't believe it when Rosberg received a lions share of booing. Totally unnecessary.
Why boo him? It may have been the fact that the whole crowd wanted a Max win, but even still it's a bit harsh. I wouldn't put it past some of the Lewis fans too you know. There were a lot of Brits there.
Talk about football crowd mentality!
Oh, and K-Mag is fine. Yey. Typical F1 driver. 200mph crash, does his ankle in and is racing 5 days later. Most footballers fall over like they have been shot, then get up two minutes later totally uninjured. Pft.
Welcome back old friend. Whilst in my last post I said I needed a break from F1, a month is long enough!
Ok, once again there was no real racing for first, right at the front. This has been my bugbear for a lot of races this year.
But, there was absolute mayhem and carnage on the opening few laps which distracted from Rosberg scampering off into the distance.
Max, Kimi and Seb nerfed into each other on the first corner and Max and Kimi kept coming across each other during the race too. The first corner incident really was not the fault of Kimi at all. Seb had to turn into the corner, but perhaps didn't see Kimi. He definitely didn't see Max.
Now, we'll give Max the benefit of the doubt for his first of many cock ups during the race. But, whilst a lot of people are blaming Seb...did nobody see that Max was actually fully on and over the kerb and he sort of just went straight on into Kimi?
He later moved over on Kimi at 200mph, after Kimi had made his move. Dangerous driving Max. If Kimi is bothered enough to be vocal about it after the race, then, well, you know it's a shit move mate.
The supidity of youth me thinks. Max later said he was pretty much driving angry after the first corner incident and said something along the lines of "better push him off than let him by".
Jesus christ. Calm down young man. That attitude will get people killed.
Elsewhere, I don't believe Rosbergs race was as easy as made out. The red flag restart will have required upmost concentration.
Great drives from Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Alonso (the latter two sailed through the grid as they started on medium tyres as everyone in front of them pitted due to safety cars and general utter carnage).
In all the mayhem I totally missed that Button had been punted out too!
So, nine points in the title race - Let's see a straight fight between the Merc boys in Monza please.
One last thing. Even if a driver I despised was the winner, I would never boo them if I was at a Grand Prix.
I couldn't believe it when Rosberg received a lions share of booing. Totally unnecessary.
Why boo him? It may have been the fact that the whole crowd wanted a Max win, but even still it's a bit harsh. I wouldn't put it past some of the Lewis fans too you know. There were a lot of Brits there.
Talk about football crowd mentality!
Oh, and K-Mag is fine. Yey. Typical F1 driver. 200mph crash, does his ankle in and is racing 5 days later. Most footballers fall over like they have been shot, then get up two minutes later totally uninjured. Pft.
Tuesday, 2 August 2016
Hungary and Germany were really quite dull races if you think about it
Maybe you don't need to think about it....
Nigel Mansell tweeted after Germany "World Championship lost maybe in Germany. Wow I cannot tell you how many times I got forced wide or knocked off track. Very different now."
If it wasn't lost there, the race was run at the start where Lewis got a flyer and Nico bogged down.
There was fun racing further down the field, but for me, for it to be a barnstormer, you need racing for the win. Hungary and Germany were totally lacking this.
Whisper it, but I am glad of the month long break now.
For the record, I don't think Nico did much wrong with his move on Max. He is only acting as Lewis has acted towards him many a time.
Belgium next. Ah, Spa 2012. Then a certain blogger is off to Singapore soon enough after that and Monza! Yeah.
Nigel Mansell tweeted after Germany "World Championship lost maybe in Germany. Wow I cannot tell you how many times I got forced wide or knocked off track. Very different now."
If it wasn't lost there, the race was run at the start where Lewis got a flyer and Nico bogged down.
There was fun racing further down the field, but for me, for it to be a barnstormer, you need racing for the win. Hungary and Germany were totally lacking this.
Whisper it, but I am glad of the month long break now.
For the record, I don't think Nico did much wrong with his move on Max. He is only acting as Lewis has acted towards him many a time.
Belgium next. Ah, Spa 2012. Then a certain blogger is off to Singapore soon enough after that and Monza! Yeah.
Sunday, 17 July 2016
Austria, Britian reviewed and a preview of Hungary
Austria:
Whoops! Nico probably thought, well Hamilton hung me out to dry so many times that this time it is my corner and I'll run him out of road. Hamilton was optimistic trying to overtake around the outside of a 90 degree right hander.
I love how nine out of ten British media reports said Nico bottled it. He didn't. He was experiencing a few brake problems, which resulted in him coming out of the first corner slowly.
Britain:
Fair play to Lewis. A dominant win. Nico again struggled in the wet.
Standout drive had to be Max 33!!
Hungary:
This is a must win for Nico, to turn the tide of momentum. It will ebb and flow through the year. He won the first four races. Lewis has won four of the last five.
Ah Hungary...memories....
Whoops! Nico probably thought, well Hamilton hung me out to dry so many times that this time it is my corner and I'll run him out of road. Hamilton was optimistic trying to overtake around the outside of a 90 degree right hander.
I love how nine out of ten British media reports said Nico bottled it. He didn't. He was experiencing a few brake problems, which resulted in him coming out of the first corner slowly.
Britain:
Fair play to Lewis. A dominant win. Nico again struggled in the wet.
Standout drive had to be Max 33!!
Hungary:
This is a must win for Nico, to turn the tide of momentum. It will ebb and flow through the year. He won the first four races. Lewis has won four of the last five.
Ah Hungary...memories....
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
Round 8: Baku
Justin:
Well, the track and Baku certainly looked the part. A beautiful setting for an F1 race and indeed an interesting track. Castle Corner looked insane...single file only through there chaps please!
Because we had incidents in each practice session and a chaotic GP2 race, people thought the F1 race would at least have a Safety Car or two. Alas, it was not to be and what we got was actually a fairly dull race.
In a shameless effort to get more views, I shall link to more external websites in this blog. I did it for Bahrain and got around 190 views! Compared to the usual 10 or so. Ehem.
Hamilton had all the momentum coming off a storming win in Canada.
Rosberg doing what he needs to do
He was impressive in Baku. Hamilton was quickest in every practice session. Hamilton just went for it and was nearly a second up on Rosberg in P1. Rosberg took his time to catch up, but he was within a couple of tenths by the end of P3. Has to be said that Hamilton's instinctive racing style gets him a bloody long way.
I have to say, looking back on that last line...tortoise and hare anyone?
Everyone was saying that Lewis would have beaten Nico to pole had he kept it on track. But, he didn't keep it on track. He admitted he was just not on it. The car setup was changed and he just didn't feel the car, or adjust to it.
Indeed, Toto Wolff covers this in the column of Andrew Benson on the BBC website.
So, with Hamilton in the wall in qualifying, Rosberg raced off into the distance in the race. When his one pitstop came, he was 40 seconds ahead of second place (ok second had stopped), and he ended up 17 seconds ahead of Vettel.
The way Rosberg seems to be taking each race at a time impresses me. After two Lewis wins on the spin, it would be easy for Nico to lose his cool and let the momentum of Lewis affect him. In Baku he didn't.
I felt a bit for Lewis and the engine setting nonsense. The rules are currently a bit stupid. His engineers couldn't help him, resulting in him fiddling with his steering wheel for many laps at 220mph!
I also sort of agree with Andrew Benson here. Just, you know, for more views ;-).
Colourful radio!
Kimi - we love you! How many swear word bleeps can he get into one broadcast??!! Classic.
Lewis' radio messages were amusing too.
Driver of the day
Perez. Duh!
To Austria we go.
Anyone stumbling across this thinking it's not in-depth or whatever, this particular blog edition may not be I grant you. Check out the last 6 years though people :-).
Well, the track and Baku certainly looked the part. A beautiful setting for an F1 race and indeed an interesting track. Castle Corner looked insane...single file only through there chaps please!
Because we had incidents in each practice session and a chaotic GP2 race, people thought the F1 race would at least have a Safety Car or two. Alas, it was not to be and what we got was actually a fairly dull race.
In a shameless effort to get more views, I shall link to more external websites in this blog. I did it for Bahrain and got around 190 views! Compared to the usual 10 or so. Ehem.
Hamilton had all the momentum coming off a storming win in Canada.
Rosberg doing what he needs to do
He was impressive in Baku. Hamilton was quickest in every practice session. Hamilton just went for it and was nearly a second up on Rosberg in P1. Rosberg took his time to catch up, but he was within a couple of tenths by the end of P3. Has to be said that Hamilton's instinctive racing style gets him a bloody long way.
I have to say, looking back on that last line...tortoise and hare anyone?
Everyone was saying that Lewis would have beaten Nico to pole had he kept it on track. But, he didn't keep it on track. He admitted he was just not on it. The car setup was changed and he just didn't feel the car, or adjust to it.
Indeed, Toto Wolff covers this in the column of Andrew Benson on the BBC website.
So, with Hamilton in the wall in qualifying, Rosberg raced off into the distance in the race. When his one pitstop came, he was 40 seconds ahead of second place (ok second had stopped), and he ended up 17 seconds ahead of Vettel.
The way Rosberg seems to be taking each race at a time impresses me. After two Lewis wins on the spin, it would be easy for Nico to lose his cool and let the momentum of Lewis affect him. In Baku he didn't.
I felt a bit for Lewis and the engine setting nonsense. The rules are currently a bit stupid. His engineers couldn't help him, resulting in him fiddling with his steering wheel for many laps at 220mph!
I also sort of agree with Andrew Benson here. Just, you know, for more views ;-).
Colourful radio!
Kimi - we love you! How many swear word bleeps can he get into one broadcast??!! Classic.
Lewis' radio messages were amusing too.
Driver of the day
Perez. Duh!
To Austria we go.
Anyone stumbling across this thinking it's not in-depth or whatever, this particular blog edition may not be I grant you. Check out the last 6 years though people :-).
Sunday, 15 May 2016
Round 5: Spain
Justin:
Erm, wow. What an absolutely stonking race. Now, THAT's why I love F1.
Aggression Vs Defence = Crash, Bang, Wallop
Hamilton made a good start, getting the better of Rosberg, but then Nico caught a good tow and went around the outside at turn 1. A ballsy move, proving that he was ready to fight with Lewis in a one on one race. Then coming out of turn 3, Nico was a lot slower (which we later found was an engine mode issue...though I inferred at one point that it was a battery thing from Wolff's interview...anyway).
At first, after I'd finished jumping up and down and screaming at the TV, I thought it was possibly more Lewis at fault...or did I think anyone was really at fault? It looked to me like the overspeed had caught Lewis out a bit (though later he said he knew Nico had engine mode problems and that he had to go for the gap).
So, Lewis went aggressive and wanted to take advantage and pass there and then, Nico went defensive. Bang.
Nico was entitled to shut the door, in my opinion. Lewis is a racer and was going for a gap, but it was very much from the Senna school of "I'm coming through, don't you dare turn in, if you do, we crash!".
File under racing incident. The stewards and indeed Mercedes said no guy was 100% to blame. Judge for yourselves.
Of the two drivers, Rosberg looked slightly more annoyed in the post race interviews - See here a link to Channel 4 F1.
Hamilton seemed rather at peace with it all. I should point out that neither tripped up over the tricky interview questions. "Are you saying you weren't to blame?"......Nico replied "I didn't say that". Plus he said what was talked about in the de-brief stays private.
Lewis too was pretty fair and even handed in his answers.
Monaco next. That will lessen the tension for sure...
The race they left behind
It was an awesome race. 4 cars in with a shout of winning, near the end too, is somewhat of a rare sight in F1 these days.
I'm getting a bit annoyed with Vettel having a good old heat of the moment whinge when someone does something he doesn't like, such as try and overtake him - gasp! Then afterwards he admitted he said stuff in the heat of the moment when Ricciardo tried a bold pass into turn 1.
I think Ricciardo is completely correct to ask Red Bull why he was pulled in and changed to the slower three stop strategy, which seemingly released Max to victory on the two stop.
Congratulations to Max Verstappen though. He drove an absolutely flawless race and really has to be my driver of the day doesn't he?
We should spare a thought for Daniil Kvyat. I can't find the Channel 4 interview with him after the race, but boy did he look peeved.
Channel 4 coverage
I was tweeting before the race started and noticed a few ney sayers regarding Steve Jones.
I like him as an F1 presenter. He works well with DC. And Susie and Alain were awesome today also.
People have short memories. It took Suzi Perry a while to hit her stride and she made a few errors in her first year. That's the nature of live TV.
I liked the Channel 4 nod to the fact that some people on the internet didn't like Jones much, when he was told by Susie to be a travel agent instead of an F1 presenter on their car journey to the track.
Steve is enthusiastic and happy to be there. To be fair, if I was presenting, it's probably not far off how I'd be. He's a bit of a fanboy. Anyone notice him touching Prost a lot during qualifying? Heehee.
Kudos to them bringing in Prost. That man is a legend. They also had to nearly cut him off from talking too long a few times. Hehehe.
The way they present too, is working well. Chopping and changing from one presenter to another, in a different part of the paddock. True, the BBC coverage did some of this, but C4 do it on another level.
To Monaco we go!!! The Mercedes boys will be trying to not touch each other at all.
PS - worth noting that Andrew Benson tweeted after qualifying that Alonso was right to leave his contract early, based on the fact he wouldnt have won any titles if he'd have seen it to the end of 2016. Bang on frankly. Ferrari were over a second behind the Mercedes duo.
Erm, wow. What an absolutely stonking race. Now, THAT's why I love F1.
Aggression Vs Defence = Crash, Bang, Wallop
Hamilton made a good start, getting the better of Rosberg, but then Nico caught a good tow and went around the outside at turn 1. A ballsy move, proving that he was ready to fight with Lewis in a one on one race. Then coming out of turn 3, Nico was a lot slower (which we later found was an engine mode issue...though I inferred at one point that it was a battery thing from Wolff's interview...anyway).
At first, after I'd finished jumping up and down and screaming at the TV, I thought it was possibly more Lewis at fault...or did I think anyone was really at fault? It looked to me like the overspeed had caught Lewis out a bit (though later he said he knew Nico had engine mode problems and that he had to go for the gap).
So, Lewis went aggressive and wanted to take advantage and pass there and then, Nico went defensive. Bang.
Nico was entitled to shut the door, in my opinion. Lewis is a racer and was going for a gap, but it was very much from the Senna school of "I'm coming through, don't you dare turn in, if you do, we crash!".
File under racing incident. The stewards and indeed Mercedes said no guy was 100% to blame. Judge for yourselves.
Of the two drivers, Rosberg looked slightly more annoyed in the post race interviews - See here a link to Channel 4 F1.
Hamilton seemed rather at peace with it all. I should point out that neither tripped up over the tricky interview questions. "Are you saying you weren't to blame?"......Nico replied "I didn't say that". Plus he said what was talked about in the de-brief stays private.
Lewis too was pretty fair and even handed in his answers.
Monaco next. That will lessen the tension for sure...
The race they left behind
It was an awesome race. 4 cars in with a shout of winning, near the end too, is somewhat of a rare sight in F1 these days.
I'm getting a bit annoyed with Vettel having a good old heat of the moment whinge when someone does something he doesn't like, such as try and overtake him - gasp! Then afterwards he admitted he said stuff in the heat of the moment when Ricciardo tried a bold pass into turn 1.
I think Ricciardo is completely correct to ask Red Bull why he was pulled in and changed to the slower three stop strategy, which seemingly released Max to victory on the two stop.
Congratulations to Max Verstappen though. He drove an absolutely flawless race and really has to be my driver of the day doesn't he?
We should spare a thought for Daniil Kvyat. I can't find the Channel 4 interview with him after the race, but boy did he look peeved.
Channel 4 coverage
I was tweeting before the race started and noticed a few ney sayers regarding Steve Jones.
I like him as an F1 presenter. He works well with DC. And Susie and Alain were awesome today also.
People have short memories. It took Suzi Perry a while to hit her stride and she made a few errors in her first year. That's the nature of live TV.
I liked the Channel 4 nod to the fact that some people on the internet didn't like Jones much, when he was told by Susie to be a travel agent instead of an F1 presenter on their car journey to the track.
Steve is enthusiastic and happy to be there. To be fair, if I was presenting, it's probably not far off how I'd be. He's a bit of a fanboy. Anyone notice him touching Prost a lot during qualifying? Heehee.
Kudos to them bringing in Prost. That man is a legend. They also had to nearly cut him off from talking too long a few times. Hehehe.
The way they present too, is working well. Chopping and changing from one presenter to another, in a different part of the paddock. True, the BBC coverage did some of this, but C4 do it on another level.
To Monaco we go!!! The Mercedes boys will be trying to not touch each other at all.
PS - worth noting that Andrew Benson tweeted after qualifying that Alonso was right to leave his contract early, based on the fact he wouldnt have won any titles if he'd have seen it to the end of 2016. Bang on frankly. Ferrari were over a second behind the Mercedes duo.
Monday, 18 April 2016
Round 3: China
Justin:
Chaos and carnage, yet Rosberg sailed serenely into the sunset 38 seconds down the road at the end.
It was a fantastic race in China, almost too good for me to do it justice in this blog (or I can't be doing with writing another huge blog. There's only so many times you can dump a huge blog out, after all).
My main gripe, whether it's Lewis winning last year, or indeed Nico winning this year is that there is no fighting at the front.
I want people fighting for the win every race.
That said, Rosberg is doing all he needs to. As his competition falters, he sails on regardless.
6 wins in the last 6 races. The last 9 drivers to win the first 3 races at the start of a year all went on to become world champion.
That said, Rosberg has his head screwed on and is taking it on a race by race basis. Even he pointed out that none of those 9 drivers had Lewis Hamilton as a team-mate.
Hamilton and Vettel will come back at him, but his confidence must be surging right now.
Last year he started the campaign off very poorly. He needed a better start and middle.
He is doing all the right things right now.
Hamilton has some work to do.
164 page views from Poland last time out? Cheers!
Chaos and carnage, yet Rosberg sailed serenely into the sunset 38 seconds down the road at the end.
It was a fantastic race in China, almost too good for me to do it justice in this blog (or I can't be doing with writing another huge blog. There's only so many times you can dump a huge blog out, after all).
My main gripe, whether it's Lewis winning last year, or indeed Nico winning this year is that there is no fighting at the front.
I want people fighting for the win every race.
That said, Rosberg is doing all he needs to. As his competition falters, he sails on regardless.
6 wins in the last 6 races. The last 9 drivers to win the first 3 races at the start of a year all went on to become world champion.
That said, Rosberg has his head screwed on and is taking it on a race by race basis. Even he pointed out that none of those 9 drivers had Lewis Hamilton as a team-mate.
Hamilton and Vettel will come back at him, but his confidence must be surging right now.
Last year he started the campaign off very poorly. He needed a better start and middle.
He is doing all the right things right now.
Hamilton has some work to do.
164 page views from Poland last time out? Cheers!
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, 2 November 2015
30 days, 30 blogs...Day one: My love for F1 never really dies
Justin:
It has been a while!
I last blogged about the Hungarian GP back in late July. Since then, I've, more often than not, gotten a little frustrated watching F1.
In a fair few races there was a distinct lack of unpredictability about the race for first. Essentially, due to Hamilton's dominance over Rosberg, there was no racing for the win.
There has been racing galore through the field, but fun though that is, I really get off on the race for the win.
It only takes a moment to restore the faith
Maybe my deep passion for F1 allows it too easily back into my good books, who knows. Before Austin and Mexico City, I actually fell asleep during a couple of races.
Austin was an insane race from start to finish. From early on, the two Red Bulls got into the mix and certainly upset the Mercedes running order.
Capgate was hillarious! One can understand Rosberg being frustrated and angry with himself and that probably enhanced his feeling of annoyance at being run out of road by Hamilton at the start.
The race in Mexico City - erm, wow! Every time the cars raced through the baseball stadium section, where the cars go between two massive grandstands, you could hear the roar of the crowd.
The podium celebrations taking place in that area, rather than the pit straight, was a pure stroke of genius. F1 is back in Mexico.
So, as part of a series of challenges I am setting myself over the next 30 days, one of those is to compose an F1 blog every day. No matter how long or short, any or all F1 topics may come up.
There is plenty going on in F1 right now to chat about, plus the fact I currently have four F1 books on my coffee table to read.
Here are a few pics from Hungary that I took, to remind us all where I last left the blogging.
Catch you tomorrow.
It has been a while!
I last blogged about the Hungarian GP back in late July. Since then, I've, more often than not, gotten a little frustrated watching F1.
In a fair few races there was a distinct lack of unpredictability about the race for first. Essentially, due to Hamilton's dominance over Rosberg, there was no racing for the win.
There has been racing galore through the field, but fun though that is, I really get off on the race for the win.
It only takes a moment to restore the faith
Maybe my deep passion for F1 allows it too easily back into my good books, who knows. Before Austin and Mexico City, I actually fell asleep during a couple of races.
Austin was an insane race from start to finish. From early on, the two Red Bulls got into the mix and certainly upset the Mercedes running order.
Capgate was hillarious! One can understand Rosberg being frustrated and angry with himself and that probably enhanced his feeling of annoyance at being run out of road by Hamilton at the start.
The race in Mexico City - erm, wow! Every time the cars raced through the baseball stadium section, where the cars go between two massive grandstands, you could hear the roar of the crowd.
The podium celebrations taking place in that area, rather than the pit straight, was a pure stroke of genius. F1 is back in Mexico.
So, as part of a series of challenges I am setting myself over the next 30 days, one of those is to compose an F1 blog every day. No matter how long or short, any or all F1 topics may come up.
There is plenty going on in F1 right now to chat about, plus the fact I currently have four F1 books on my coffee table to read.
Here are a few pics from Hungary that I took, to remind us all where I last left the blogging.
Catch you tomorrow.
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, 28 June 2015
30th Birthday party in Hungary!
Justin:
In two F1 related moments, following one after the other, my summer really kicked off in big time stylee.
I went to see Fleetwood Mac on June 24th. They opened with The Chain. A long time classic with F1 fans. It brought tears to my eyes - such an emotive song. I'd been waiting years to see them and built it up in my mind. The gig was even better than I could have ever imagined.
When I returned from Fleetwood Mac, on June 25th, UPS delivered 4 grandstand seat tickets for the Hungarian GP weekend. Booyaa!
According to the tickets, it will be a massive party as Hungary is celebrating its 30th Grand Prix this year. It will be a pleasure to be a part of it.
In a third F1 related incident, I appear to have loaned out my book "The Limit" and I have somehow lost track of who has it. Fellow blogger Phil Smith - is it you? If you reply with your usual "It's me", it will be a relief. I know you have my other book "Chequered Conflict"...right?!
Season so far
In my last post I remarked that I couldn't see anyone beating Hamilton this year, with the form he was in. Rosberg won in Spain, lady luck helped him win in Monaco, Hamilton was quicker in Canada and Rosberg was the faster guy in Austria.
Three wins in the last four races has seen Rosberg peg back Hamilton and only ten points separate the two now.
It was the manner of Rosberg winning in Austria that made a lot of people sit up and take notice. He buried Hamilton off the start and was quicker all race, all weekend in fact. Hamilton was on the backfoot for the first time this year. Ok, it all fluctuates, one will be quicker than the other and vice versa from race to race.
I think Rosberg has finally got his shit together now. It is time for this title fight to get going!
Elsewhere McLaren toil still, as do Red Bull.
Hulkenberg won LeMans, which surely increases his stock for a top drive next year - though I hear Ferrari are looking at Bottas.
Races have been a tad dull this year so far. Let us hope for more Rosberg vs Hamilton antics up front to liven shit up a bit!
Formula E?
No...just...no.
Richard Branson thinks this will be bigger than F1 in a few years. No Richard, no!
As my number one bullet point on a long list, it has a lot of drivers who are not good enough for F1 or who never got there in the first place (perhaps harsh on Bruno Senna and JEV, but hey, life is harsh chaps). It has pure novelty value in having Senna, Prost and Piquet on the same grid again.
Though, my opinion on Nelson Piquet Junior is only higher than my opinion of Flavio Briatorie..just.
I believe Jarno Trulli has taken time away from winemaking to take part. Combining hobbies eh.
And lastly..
When I informed a good friend that the tickets had arrived, he texted back saying "Will Alonso finish in the points?".
I replied "Compared to Belgium (when the three amigos last rode to a GP in 2012), just getting around the first lap will be a bonus!".
Though in his McLaren, that might be a wish beyond the capability of his machinery.
Hungary. 2015. Let's do this.
(That said, of course, it is the British GP next weekend - how could I forget? So, Rosberg to win?).
I'll sign off with this statement of fact.
You do not win three races in three years at Monaco if you are but a "very good" driver.
In two F1 related moments, following one after the other, my summer really kicked off in big time stylee.
I went to see Fleetwood Mac on June 24th. They opened with The Chain. A long time classic with F1 fans. It brought tears to my eyes - such an emotive song. I'd been waiting years to see them and built it up in my mind. The gig was even better than I could have ever imagined.
When I returned from Fleetwood Mac, on June 25th, UPS delivered 4 grandstand seat tickets for the Hungarian GP weekend. Booyaa!
According to the tickets, it will be a massive party as Hungary is celebrating its 30th Grand Prix this year. It will be a pleasure to be a part of it.
In a third F1 related incident, I appear to have loaned out my book "The Limit" and I have somehow lost track of who has it. Fellow blogger Phil Smith - is it you? If you reply with your usual "It's me", it will be a relief. I know you have my other book "Chequered Conflict"...right?!
Season so far
In my last post I remarked that I couldn't see anyone beating Hamilton this year, with the form he was in. Rosberg won in Spain, lady luck helped him win in Monaco, Hamilton was quicker in Canada and Rosberg was the faster guy in Austria.
Three wins in the last four races has seen Rosberg peg back Hamilton and only ten points separate the two now.
It was the manner of Rosberg winning in Austria that made a lot of people sit up and take notice. He buried Hamilton off the start and was quicker all race, all weekend in fact. Hamilton was on the backfoot for the first time this year. Ok, it all fluctuates, one will be quicker than the other and vice versa from race to race.
I think Rosberg has finally got his shit together now. It is time for this title fight to get going!
Elsewhere McLaren toil still, as do Red Bull.
Hulkenberg won LeMans, which surely increases his stock for a top drive next year - though I hear Ferrari are looking at Bottas.
Races have been a tad dull this year so far. Let us hope for more Rosberg vs Hamilton antics up front to liven shit up a bit!
Formula E?
No...just...no.
Richard Branson thinks this will be bigger than F1 in a few years. No Richard, no!
As my number one bullet point on a long list, it has a lot of drivers who are not good enough for F1 or who never got there in the first place (perhaps harsh on Bruno Senna and JEV, but hey, life is harsh chaps). It has pure novelty value in having Senna, Prost and Piquet on the same grid again.
Though, my opinion on Nelson Piquet Junior is only higher than my opinion of Flavio Briatorie..just.
I believe Jarno Trulli has taken time away from winemaking to take part. Combining hobbies eh.
And lastly..
When I informed a good friend that the tickets had arrived, he texted back saying "Will Alonso finish in the points?".
I replied "Compared to Belgium (when the three amigos last rode to a GP in 2012), just getting around the first lap will be a bonus!".
Though in his McLaren, that might be a wish beyond the capability of his machinery.
Hungary. 2015. Let's do this.
(That said, of course, it is the British GP next weekend - how could I forget? So, Rosberg to win?).
I'll sign off with this statement of fact.
You do not win three races in three years at Monaco if you are but a "very good" driver.
Saturday, 28 March 2015
2015...so far, so average..?
Justin:
At the start of the year I tipped Rosberg to come back stronger this year and push Hamilton even closer for the world title.
At this point in time, I cannot see anyone other than Hamilton winning the world title.
He steamrollered Rosberg in Australia and is threatening the same again this weekend in Malaysia. He is on a roll of 7 wins in the last 8 GP's.
Rosberg needed a strong weekend this weekend, but no matter what he does or how strong he is, Hamilton has an answer.
Lewis didn't get as much prep time during the free practice sessions, but still stuck it on pole. Job done.
Nico will have to use everything at his disposal to try and put Lewis off his game. It's a different dynamic to last year, in that Lewis has the confidence of a world champion and with Nico giving soundbites such as "yeah, he is driving like a champion" - fighting talk that is not.
Having said that, there was a brief bit of petty handbags again as Nico disrupted Lewis' final pole run, then Lewis got in Nico's way a bit. Whether either was deliberate, who knows, but they were both piddling around for clear track position to get a clean lap.
McLaren
Interesting looking at the pictures on BBC when Alonso hopped out of his car, Ron Dennis turned around as if to address him and Alonso walked off. Whether he knew he was there is another matter.
There is still loads of speculation about Alonso's testing crash. McLaren say there was nothing wrong with the car at all. He stated this weekend that he felt the steering go heavy. Everyone else has written about this, I'll leave it to you to decide whether you want to let this rest or not.
I'm not exactly looking forward to watching two world champions piddle around fighting to see who finishes next to last (assuming the Marussia's conk out).
Red Bull and Renault
Who knows what the future holds for these two? Rumours abount that Renault want to purchase Toro Rosso and have it as a works team. What definately seems to be the case, is that this is a marriage of convenience right now.
Ferrari
Ok, you would have to say Vettel seems to have made the right move. Red Bull have gone backwards and Ferrari have gone forwards.
I still say he ran away from Red Bull. He admitted in an interview today in fact "there were a couple of things on the other side" - alluding to him not being too happy at being beaten soundly by Ricciardo. But, heyho, Ferrari now seem to be the closest challenger to Mercedes.
With Rosberg seemingly in Hamilton's pocket for the time being, Ferrari entering the fray is the only hope we have of a good season.
Driver of the day in Australia had to be Felipe Nasr. Awesome stuff!
Is F1 in good health?
My co-blogger and I were talking about this the other day. I'm not sure F1 is in great health right now. 15 cars started the race in Oz. Not great. McLaren are floundering at the back, Bernie is having a pop at "disgraceful Marussia", no German GP...
Bernie goes where the money is - ie the money paid by whomever to stage a race. He doesnt go where paying fans are. The stands and viewing areas were pretty empty in Malaysia FP. OK, possibly a naff example as it's one of the more popular newer races and is generally well attended for qualy and the race.
The old one of Monza again being under threat has come round again. Talk about ripping the heart out of F1. Spa, Silverstone, Suzuka, Monza, Monaco...these are the essence of F1 and must stay.
That said, I'm not sure about the special "bargain" price of £99 GA for a weekend at Silverstone. Most European races are cheaper. It cost me £82 for a 3 day grandstand seat in Hungary!
The reverse is that you have a lot of interesting teammate battles this year - Kimi Vs Seb, Alonso Vs JB....Ricciardo seems to have the measure of Kvyat for now. Nico needs to come back and sort Lewis. This season is shaping up like last season without the Mercedes battle - not good!
Predictions for Malaysia? As they line up on the grid - Lewis, Seb, Nico.
At the start of the year I tipped Rosberg to come back stronger this year and push Hamilton even closer for the world title.
At this point in time, I cannot see anyone other than Hamilton winning the world title.
He steamrollered Rosberg in Australia and is threatening the same again this weekend in Malaysia. He is on a roll of 7 wins in the last 8 GP's.
Rosberg needed a strong weekend this weekend, but no matter what he does or how strong he is, Hamilton has an answer.
Lewis didn't get as much prep time during the free practice sessions, but still stuck it on pole. Job done.
Nico will have to use everything at his disposal to try and put Lewis off his game. It's a different dynamic to last year, in that Lewis has the confidence of a world champion and with Nico giving soundbites such as "yeah, he is driving like a champion" - fighting talk that is not.
Having said that, there was a brief bit of petty handbags again as Nico disrupted Lewis' final pole run, then Lewis got in Nico's way a bit. Whether either was deliberate, who knows, but they were both piddling around for clear track position to get a clean lap.
McLaren
Interesting looking at the pictures on BBC when Alonso hopped out of his car, Ron Dennis turned around as if to address him and Alonso walked off. Whether he knew he was there is another matter.
There is still loads of speculation about Alonso's testing crash. McLaren say there was nothing wrong with the car at all. He stated this weekend that he felt the steering go heavy. Everyone else has written about this, I'll leave it to you to decide whether you want to let this rest or not.
I'm not exactly looking forward to watching two world champions piddle around fighting to see who finishes next to last (assuming the Marussia's conk out).
Red Bull and Renault
Who knows what the future holds for these two? Rumours abount that Renault want to purchase Toro Rosso and have it as a works team. What definately seems to be the case, is that this is a marriage of convenience right now.
Ferrari
Ok, you would have to say Vettel seems to have made the right move. Red Bull have gone backwards and Ferrari have gone forwards.
I still say he ran away from Red Bull. He admitted in an interview today in fact "there were a couple of things on the other side" - alluding to him not being too happy at being beaten soundly by Ricciardo. But, heyho, Ferrari now seem to be the closest challenger to Mercedes.
With Rosberg seemingly in Hamilton's pocket for the time being, Ferrari entering the fray is the only hope we have of a good season.
Driver of the day in Australia had to be Felipe Nasr. Awesome stuff!
Is F1 in good health?
My co-blogger and I were talking about this the other day. I'm not sure F1 is in great health right now. 15 cars started the race in Oz. Not great. McLaren are floundering at the back, Bernie is having a pop at "disgraceful Marussia", no German GP...
Bernie goes where the money is - ie the money paid by whomever to stage a race. He doesnt go where paying fans are. The stands and viewing areas were pretty empty in Malaysia FP. OK, possibly a naff example as it's one of the more popular newer races and is generally well attended for qualy and the race.
The old one of Monza again being under threat has come round again. Talk about ripping the heart out of F1. Spa, Silverstone, Suzuka, Monza, Monaco...these are the essence of F1 and must stay.
That said, I'm not sure about the special "bargain" price of £99 GA for a weekend at Silverstone. Most European races are cheaper. It cost me £82 for a 3 day grandstand seat in Hungary!
The reverse is that you have a lot of interesting teammate battles this year - Kimi Vs Seb, Alonso Vs JB....Ricciardo seems to have the measure of Kvyat for now. Nico needs to come back and sort Lewis. This season is shaping up like last season without the Mercedes battle - not good!
Predictions for Malaysia? As they line up on the grid - Lewis, Seb, Nico.
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.
Sunday, 12 October 2014
Unquestionably....it's time to blog again...
Justin:
Sunday 5 October 2014:
A lot has happened since I last blogged in April.
I have to start with today in Japan. We were given a brutal reminder that, despite people saying F1 is too safe these days, it's still a very dangerous sport.
We await news of how Jules Bianchi is doing.
In a dark day for F1, it was announced that Andrea de Cesaris has sadly passed away aged 55.
I had a huge blog planned, reviewing the championship battle between the Mercedes duo, the driver market musical chairs kicking off with Vettel announcing he is to leave Red Bull, where Alonso could be headed, Nigel Mansell thinking everything is fantastic....
Sunday 12 October 2014:
At the start of the year I tipped Rosberg for the title, and up until recently I still stood by my tip.
Now I am not as sure.
He could still do it. 17 points behind Lewis is not a huge gap. One DNF for Lewis and it all changes again. That said, the momentum is clearly with Lewis now. 4 wins on the spin and a frankly crushing victory in Russia today means he has 9 wins this season to 4 for Rosberg.
Whenever they go wheel to wheel, Rosberg seems to bottle it. He is super quick, as proved by him having more poles than Hamilton this year. He is a great racer, as proved by his many a drives this season, and indeed his recovery drive today from the back to second.
It just seems Lewis has the clear upper hand when they are both near each other on track. Rosberg lunged for the move today and didn't make it stick via locking his tyres and flat-spotting them. Race over in terms of going for the win. In Japan he soaked up the pressure from Lewis pretty well as Lewis stalked him for 30 laps before that ridiculous move around the outside of turn 1.
These two have given us drama, fighting, politics, ruthlessness, falling out and great racing all year. I hope it goes to the wire, but in many ways I very much hope that the stupid double points doesnt change the destiny of this years world drivers title.
Mercedes wrapped up their first ever constructors title today. When they were winning in the 50's, there was no constructors title to fight for.
Rosberg and Hamilton were united in seeming really pleased and happy for the team. Rosberg said he was extremely disappointed on one hand, for his mistake at the start, but happy for the team etc.
USA is next, a track where Lewis excels. I expect another Hamilton win there, with Rosberg second, taking the points gap to 25 with two to go.
Driver of the year??
It is a very close call between Ricciardo and Bottas. Bottas has 6 podiums this year now, 4 in a row now I believe? He looked close to the Mercedes duo in qualifying and had pole within his grasp.
But I think Ricciardo shades it for me. Simply outstanding all year. End of discussion. He has effectively dumped Vettel out of his own team, stripped him of his number one status and sent him running away to Ferrari.
Musical chairs
Vettel has announced he is to leave Red Bull, but not announced where he is off to. Christian Horner has been on record saying it's Ferrari who have offered Vettel a lot of money to go.
Everyone was expecting Alonso to announce something first, this triggering the merry-go-round, but Ferrari have blinked first by signing Vettel...but they have not announced it yet.
Rumour is that Alonso approached Mercedes a few months ago and Ferrari viewed this as him not being committed for the future. Fair enough really. However, Ferrari have said it will be at least 2 years before they get on top of the current shambles they are in. Alonso is 33 now and he is hungry for more world titles.
Has he backed himself into a corner? Perhaps. Mclaren Honda is his rumoured destination, but they themselves may not be winning straight away. It's a roll of the dice, but certainly you could argue he won't be any worse off than he is now a Ferrari really.
Anything could happen in F1 though. Could Ferrari dump Kimi again and keep Alonso alongside Vettel?
This does not sit well with me....but another rumour is Alonso taking a year off with a view to a top drive in 2016. For someone like Alonso though, surely this is the last option to take, with F1 racing in his blood he is widely acknowledged as the best on the grid (after the 2012 season 9 out of 11 team bosses voted for him as the very best on the grid).
To Austin we go in 3 weeks!
Sunday 5 October 2014:
A lot has happened since I last blogged in April.
I have to start with today in Japan. We were given a brutal reminder that, despite people saying F1 is too safe these days, it's still a very dangerous sport.
We await news of how Jules Bianchi is doing.
In a dark day for F1, it was announced that Andrea de Cesaris has sadly passed away aged 55.
I had a huge blog planned, reviewing the championship battle between the Mercedes duo, the driver market musical chairs kicking off with Vettel announcing he is to leave Red Bull, where Alonso could be headed, Nigel Mansell thinking everything is fantastic....
Sunday 12 October 2014:
At the start of the year I tipped Rosberg for the title, and up until recently I still stood by my tip.
Now I am not as sure.
He could still do it. 17 points behind Lewis is not a huge gap. One DNF for Lewis and it all changes again. That said, the momentum is clearly with Lewis now. 4 wins on the spin and a frankly crushing victory in Russia today means he has 9 wins this season to 4 for Rosberg.
Whenever they go wheel to wheel, Rosberg seems to bottle it. He is super quick, as proved by him having more poles than Hamilton this year. He is a great racer, as proved by his many a drives this season, and indeed his recovery drive today from the back to second.
It just seems Lewis has the clear upper hand when they are both near each other on track. Rosberg lunged for the move today and didn't make it stick via locking his tyres and flat-spotting them. Race over in terms of going for the win. In Japan he soaked up the pressure from Lewis pretty well as Lewis stalked him for 30 laps before that ridiculous move around the outside of turn 1.
These two have given us drama, fighting, politics, ruthlessness, falling out and great racing all year. I hope it goes to the wire, but in many ways I very much hope that the stupid double points doesnt change the destiny of this years world drivers title.
Mercedes wrapped up their first ever constructors title today. When they were winning in the 50's, there was no constructors title to fight for.
Rosberg and Hamilton were united in seeming really pleased and happy for the team. Rosberg said he was extremely disappointed on one hand, for his mistake at the start, but happy for the team etc.
USA is next, a track where Lewis excels. I expect another Hamilton win there, with Rosberg second, taking the points gap to 25 with two to go.
Driver of the year??
It is a very close call between Ricciardo and Bottas. Bottas has 6 podiums this year now, 4 in a row now I believe? He looked close to the Mercedes duo in qualifying and had pole within his grasp.
But I think Ricciardo shades it for me. Simply outstanding all year. End of discussion. He has effectively dumped Vettel out of his own team, stripped him of his number one status and sent him running away to Ferrari.
Musical chairs
Vettel has announced he is to leave Red Bull, but not announced where he is off to. Christian Horner has been on record saying it's Ferrari who have offered Vettel a lot of money to go.
Everyone was expecting Alonso to announce something first, this triggering the merry-go-round, but Ferrari have blinked first by signing Vettel...but they have not announced it yet.
Rumour is that Alonso approached Mercedes a few months ago and Ferrari viewed this as him not being committed for the future. Fair enough really. However, Ferrari have said it will be at least 2 years before they get on top of the current shambles they are in. Alonso is 33 now and he is hungry for more world titles.
Has he backed himself into a corner? Perhaps. Mclaren Honda is his rumoured destination, but they themselves may not be winning straight away. It's a roll of the dice, but certainly you could argue he won't be any worse off than he is now a Ferrari really.
Anything could happen in F1 though. Could Ferrari dump Kimi again and keep Alonso alongside Vettel?
This does not sit well with me....but another rumour is Alonso taking a year off with a view to a top drive in 2016. For someone like Alonso though, surely this is the last option to take, with F1 racing in his blood he is widely acknowledged as the best on the grid (after the 2012 season 9 out of 11 team bosses voted for him as the very best on the grid).
To Austin we go in 3 weeks!
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!!
Monday, 31 March 2014
Now...where was I?
Justin:
Two rounds gone, two wins for Mercedes. It seems the rumours were bang on the money before the season started. Mercedes have gotten themselves a huge gap and the title race will seemingly be fought between Nico and Lewis.
F1 2014
Is a new beast. It is an engine formula now, with aerodynamics taking a backseat. Mercedes have the best engine by far, hence even if the Red Bull is the fastest car in certain corners and is more aerodynamically efficient etc, the Mercedes engine still has more grunt. With horsepower to spare and the Renault engines having serious reliability issues, I find it difficult to see where another winner will come from at least until we get back to Europe or a wet race before then.
Ferrari
Pains me to say it, but the Ferrari does not look that fast. Alonso pretty much started 4th and finished 4th in both races, making no notable superfast overtakes aside from on Hulkenberg at the end of Malaysia (Hulk's tyres were shot to pieces). It's easier to make a fast car reliable, than to make a reliable car fast. The Ferrari is reliable, but looks to be the third fastest car behind Mercedes and Red Bull...at best.
Domination - Nico vs Lewis
It's early days, but you'd be silly not to put fair cash on either of the Mercedes drivers being champion in 2014. At least there are two people dominating right now, as opposed to just Vettel in the second half of 2013 - though I must say the Malaysian race was pretty boring!!
I am still going with my instinct and sticking with Nico for the title. People are saying Hamilton thrashed him at Sepang and that Nico wouldnt have won had Lewis not retired in Oz. Well, the latter we'll never know. The former - Nico seemed happy enough with second in Sepang. Just like JB accepted when he was at McLaren with Lewis, there will be days when Lewis absolutely knocks you out of the park. It's what you do on the days he doesnt that matters. Over a season, I think it's going to be a very close run thing between these two.
Felipe - Valtteri is faster than you
I sympathise with Massa here. Surely Williams will understand where he was coming from on ignoring team orders.
Hulkenberg
How has this guy not go a top drive? He was awesome in Malaysia.
New sound
I still miss the V8 roar, especially when they are on the grid starting the race. But, you can hear the fans cheering, the tyres screeching and the engine sound is quite different engine to engine and it's nice and deep...rich.
Next round....Bahrain. Let's hope Mark Webber avoids Nigel Mansell impressions in future.
3 minutes 10...hehehe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26798524
Schumi and Senna
No news on Schumi unfortunately.
It's 20 years in May since the passing of the great Aryton Senna. Two giants of the sport.
Here is a very cool twenty year anniversary edition of Senna's helmet, designed by the son of the guy who used to design Senna's helmets.
Two rounds gone, two wins for Mercedes. It seems the rumours were bang on the money before the season started. Mercedes have gotten themselves a huge gap and the title race will seemingly be fought between Nico and Lewis.
F1 2014
Is a new beast. It is an engine formula now, with aerodynamics taking a backseat. Mercedes have the best engine by far, hence even if the Red Bull is the fastest car in certain corners and is more aerodynamically efficient etc, the Mercedes engine still has more grunt. With horsepower to spare and the Renault engines having serious reliability issues, I find it difficult to see where another winner will come from at least until we get back to Europe or a wet race before then.
Ferrari
Pains me to say it, but the Ferrari does not look that fast. Alonso pretty much started 4th and finished 4th in both races, making no notable superfast overtakes aside from on Hulkenberg at the end of Malaysia (Hulk's tyres were shot to pieces). It's easier to make a fast car reliable, than to make a reliable car fast. The Ferrari is reliable, but looks to be the third fastest car behind Mercedes and Red Bull...at best.
Domination - Nico vs Lewis
It's early days, but you'd be silly not to put fair cash on either of the Mercedes drivers being champion in 2014. At least there are two people dominating right now, as opposed to just Vettel in the second half of 2013 - though I must say the Malaysian race was pretty boring!!
I am still going with my instinct and sticking with Nico for the title. People are saying Hamilton thrashed him at Sepang and that Nico wouldnt have won had Lewis not retired in Oz. Well, the latter we'll never know. The former - Nico seemed happy enough with second in Sepang. Just like JB accepted when he was at McLaren with Lewis, there will be days when Lewis absolutely knocks you out of the park. It's what you do on the days he doesnt that matters. Over a season, I think it's going to be a very close run thing between these two.
Felipe - Valtteri is faster than you
I sympathise with Massa here. Surely Williams will understand where he was coming from on ignoring team orders.
Hulkenberg
How has this guy not go a top drive? He was awesome in Malaysia.
New sound
I still miss the V8 roar, especially when they are on the grid starting the race. But, you can hear the fans cheering, the tyres screeching and the engine sound is quite different engine to engine and it's nice and deep...rich.
Next round....Bahrain. Let's hope Mark Webber avoids Nigel Mansell impressions in future.
3 minutes 10...hehehe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26798524
Schumi and Senna
No news on Schumi unfortunately.
It's 20 years in May since the passing of the great Aryton Senna. Two giants of the sport.
Here is a very cool twenty year anniversary edition of Senna's helmet, designed by the son of the guy who used to design Senna's helmets.
Saturday, 9 November 2013
To sum up...2010 was a better F1 season than 2013!!!!!
Justin:
I decided to watch my 2010 F1 Review DVD this weekend. Thought, given how boring the second half of this year has been, I'd like to watch some vintage F1. OK, recent vintage, but vintage none the less.
2010 was the year when Webber made his....Mark....gettit, by winning in Monaco and at Silverstone, amongst a couple of others. We had teammates fighting all over the shop with Jenson unsettling Lewis by winning two of the first four races for his new team. We had Webber and Vettel literally driving each other off the road as well as swapping front wings etc. Ferrari binned the "no team orders" rule by cunningly disguising their order to Massa to make way for Alonso. Good one...Rob Smedley didn't beat around the bush there!
5 guys going for the world title - you could probably take that down to four after the brilliant GP at Spa which saw "The Crash Kid" Vettel lose control of his car and nerf Button out (of the race and title contention).
4 guys going into the last race with a mathmatical chance of the title. A truly great season.
Back to 2013.
Will I even bother watching the next race? The only reason I watched the last one was a Webber pole and the hope he may produce a last victory before retirement.
I recently put to my co-blogger that a leading candidate for driver of the year has to be Romain Grosjean.
OK, there are others who are deserving of such a brilliant award given by me.
Sutil, who has made DiResta look stupid at various times through 2013, especially the first race in Australia when after a year out, he was amongst the leading cars for a good while.
Rosberg - you would easily say he has more than held his own against Hamilton. There was a big hoohaa about JB going to Mclaren to join Lewis. OK, qualifying forget about it, but over the course of three years in terms of wins and points JB and Lewis were more or less equal. Rosberg looks just as fast as Lewis frankly, over one lap and the race, where Lewis has a lot more problems looking after his tyres. Rosberg has been best of the rest (outside the Red Bulls) for the last couple of races now.
Hulkenberg. Has driven some stonking races this year, often keeping much quicker cars behind him for long periods. A great racer and future champion surely.
Alonso? Look at the drivers championship. He is still second. The Ferrari, you could say is probably the 4th outright quickest car after Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus.
I'm naming Grosjean as my driver of the year though. From the worst season in anyones career for a long time in 2012, crashing into anybody and everybody on more than a few occasions, to being a consistent podium finisher from race to race now - that's a terrific turnaround and fair play to him for sorting himself out.
He has clearly become the lead driver for Lotus, and with Kimi leaving they are treating him as such - encouraging him to go get Kimi when he was just in front in a race.
Some may say that Grosjean's rise has coincided with Kimi signing for Ferrari and perhaps taking his foot off the gas, not being paid etc etc. Perhaps. But Grosjean has shown a real maturity in his driving this year, particularly the second half where he has become a serial podium offender and with the right car again, with Hulkenberg is a future world champion surely.
Team leader at Lotus next year is Grosjean. I am excited to see how he copes and how he does.
Roll on 2014 F1. This second half of the year has been dull!!!!!!!!!!! If we all know who will win before it starts, why watch? I am asking myself more and more at the moment.
I decided to watch my 2010 F1 Review DVD this weekend. Thought, given how boring the second half of this year has been, I'd like to watch some vintage F1. OK, recent vintage, but vintage none the less.
2010 was the year when Webber made his....Mark....gettit, by winning in Monaco and at Silverstone, amongst a couple of others. We had teammates fighting all over the shop with Jenson unsettling Lewis by winning two of the first four races for his new team. We had Webber and Vettel literally driving each other off the road as well as swapping front wings etc. Ferrari binned the "no team orders" rule by cunningly disguising their order to Massa to make way for Alonso. Good one...Rob Smedley didn't beat around the bush there!
5 guys going for the world title - you could probably take that down to four after the brilliant GP at Spa which saw "The Crash Kid" Vettel lose control of his car and nerf Button out (of the race and title contention).
4 guys going into the last race with a mathmatical chance of the title. A truly great season.
Back to 2013.
Will I even bother watching the next race? The only reason I watched the last one was a Webber pole and the hope he may produce a last victory before retirement.
I recently put to my co-blogger that a leading candidate for driver of the year has to be Romain Grosjean.
OK, there are others who are deserving of such a brilliant award given by me.
Sutil, who has made DiResta look stupid at various times through 2013, especially the first race in Australia when after a year out, he was amongst the leading cars for a good while.
Rosberg - you would easily say he has more than held his own against Hamilton. There was a big hoohaa about JB going to Mclaren to join Lewis. OK, qualifying forget about it, but over the course of three years in terms of wins and points JB and Lewis were more or less equal. Rosberg looks just as fast as Lewis frankly, over one lap and the race, where Lewis has a lot more problems looking after his tyres. Rosberg has been best of the rest (outside the Red Bulls) for the last couple of races now.
Hulkenberg. Has driven some stonking races this year, often keeping much quicker cars behind him for long periods. A great racer and future champion surely.
Alonso? Look at the drivers championship. He is still second. The Ferrari, you could say is probably the 4th outright quickest car after Red Bull, Mercedes and Lotus.
I'm naming Grosjean as my driver of the year though. From the worst season in anyones career for a long time in 2012, crashing into anybody and everybody on more than a few occasions, to being a consistent podium finisher from race to race now - that's a terrific turnaround and fair play to him for sorting himself out.
He has clearly become the lead driver for Lotus, and with Kimi leaving they are treating him as such - encouraging him to go get Kimi when he was just in front in a race.
Some may say that Grosjean's rise has coincided with Kimi signing for Ferrari and perhaps taking his foot off the gas, not being paid etc etc. Perhaps. But Grosjean has shown a real maturity in his driving this year, particularly the second half where he has become a serial podium offender and with the right car again, with Hulkenberg is a future world champion surely.
Team leader at Lotus next year is Grosjean. I am excited to see how he copes and how he does.
Roll on 2014 F1. This second half of the year has been dull!!!!!!!!!!! If we all know who will win before it starts, why watch? I am asking myself more and more at the moment.
Saturday, 23 June 2012
7/7
Phil: Lewis Hamsandwich's win at Montreal a fortnight ago gives a seventh winner in seven races in this topsy-turvy season. Can any of the seven take their second race win of the season tomorrow at Valencia, or will this record-breaking run continue? Ross Brawn has said he thinks Schumi is capable of adding to his tally, and he has had a most unlucky season so far with two tenth places and five DNFs. Raikkonen would be my tip to make it an eighth driver, although Perez has come close once or twice.
This may be a record breaking season, as the first seven races have never been won by seven different drivers before, but in 1982 nine consecutive races were won by nine different drivers. The comparisons with 1982 would be even more apt if Nico Rosberg were to emulate his father by winning one race, and then the title.
In other news, last weekend saw Audi's 11th win at Le Mans in 14 years, this time in a hybrid car. Former F1 driver and commentator Anthony Davidson cracked two vertebrae in a colossal crash at the end of the Mulsanne straight. His Toyota was lapping a slower GT car which didn't see him, cut in on him at the last minute and launched him into the air. Another F1 refugee, Giancarlo Fisichella, won the GT class in a Ferrari 458 Italia.
Finally, my co-blogger will be off to Silverstone tomorrow in a single seater. Have a great time and give it 110%!
This may be a record breaking season, as the first seven races have never been won by seven different drivers before, but in 1982 nine consecutive races were won by nine different drivers. The comparisons with 1982 would be even more apt if Nico Rosberg were to emulate his father by winning one race, and then the title.
In other news, last weekend saw Audi's 11th win at Le Mans in 14 years, this time in a hybrid car. Former F1 driver and commentator Anthony Davidson cracked two vertebrae in a colossal crash at the end of the Mulsanne straight. His Toyota was lapping a slower GT car which didn't see him, cut in on him at the last minute and launched him into the air. Another F1 refugee, Giancarlo Fisichella, won the GT class in a Ferrari 458 Italia.
Finally, my co-blogger will be off to Silverstone tomorrow in a single seater. Have a great time and give it 110%!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)