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.
Monday, 29 August 2016
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 :-).
Thursday, 9 June 2016
Round 6: Monaco, plus Round 7 Preview
Justin:
Headline. Ricciardo fails to smile after race.
You can't blame him at all. Red Bull fucked up big time and cost him what was looking like his first win at Monaco.
He said he didn't like being the miserable guy in interviews, but he just wanted to get out of there and skip the team de-brief. He just didn't want to hear what they had to say. I read somewhere that he told them on the radio not to say anything, as nothing they had to say would help. Crikey.
Driver of the day
Goes to either one of the first three frankly. Hamilton was on fire, plain and simple.
After being released by Rosberg, Lewis dropped him like a dead weight and began reeling in Ricciardo bit by bit. Hamilton was at one with his machine and the elements. The cream rises to the top in the wet at Monaco. Case in point, Perez storming to third. Fantastic.
What of Rosberg? He clearly had a bad day at the office. He was due one. He struggled with break temperatures, tyre temperatures...you name it. He also said he just didn't have confidence in the car to push hard, otherwise he would have been in the barriers.
It's not like he is shit around here, having won the last three Monaco races. However, in one swoop Hamilton has nearly halved his deficit in the points standings.
Fifty and still going
Well done McLaren. Alonso and Button and both got points finishes. Alonso probably quite enjoyed keeping Rosberg behind him in the closing stages.
News (9 June)
The driver merry-go-round has started for 2017, or as we all call it, silly season.
The facts are this:
1. Nico Rosberg and Kimi are the only guys out of contract for 2017 at one of the top 3 teams (Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari). I'm calling Red Bull the second fastest now, as frankly they are on top of Ferrari right now.
2. Rosberg is highly likely to sign again for Mercedes. He has said as much, and Mercedes have said they wish to keep him. Why would he leave? Nowhere else would give him a car as dominating as the Merc. There was a brief rumour that Ferrari were sniffing around him, to replace Kimi. I really don't see that happening. It does make more sense for Ferrari than Nico though.
3. Kimi holds the key to the top line driver market. He wants to stay, Ferrari feel his relationship with Vettel works well. So, signing him for 2017 should be going ahead right? We'll see. He is still quick that is for sure.
4. There are a whole host of potentially better drivers wanting that Ferrari seat. Perez has done his top team hopes no harm at all recently. The 2013 McLaren was a bag of shit and I feel that perhaps a top drive came at the wrong time for him - He was on the way up, McLaren were well on their way down! Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Valtteri Bottas are all waiting for that top drive.
Though, Kimi is ahead of Vettel in the standings right now.
5. Ferrari need to decide - Do they maintain the status quo for the sake of the team, or do they draft in a hungry, younger racer to come and shake things up? Who knows?
6. Button is out of contract at McLaren. What he does not deserve at all is being treated like shit yet again in a "will they, won't they?" sign him for another year...
He is a champion and deserves only the best treatment frankly.
Rumour is that Williams will let Massa go and draft in Button when Vandoorne takes his seat.
7. Will Kvyat be at Torro Rosso in 2017? He has been slagging Red Bull off here and there non-stop since being sacked by the big team. We shall see.
Round 7: Canada predictions
Monaco was the place where a powerful engine matters least.
I cannot see Red Bull ruffling the feathers of Mercedes as much in Canada.
Hamilton knows how to win there, that is for sure.
You heard it here first! Top two will be Mercedes (I cannot predict which way around), then Ricciardo in third.
Headline. Ricciardo fails to smile after race.
You can't blame him at all. Red Bull fucked up big time and cost him what was looking like his first win at Monaco.
He said he didn't like being the miserable guy in interviews, but he just wanted to get out of there and skip the team de-brief. He just didn't want to hear what they had to say. I read somewhere that he told them on the radio not to say anything, as nothing they had to say would help. Crikey.
Driver of the day
Goes to either one of the first three frankly. Hamilton was on fire, plain and simple.
After being released by Rosberg, Lewis dropped him like a dead weight and began reeling in Ricciardo bit by bit. Hamilton was at one with his machine and the elements. The cream rises to the top in the wet at Monaco. Case in point, Perez storming to third. Fantastic.
What of Rosberg? He clearly had a bad day at the office. He was due one. He struggled with break temperatures, tyre temperatures...you name it. He also said he just didn't have confidence in the car to push hard, otherwise he would have been in the barriers.
It's not like he is shit around here, having won the last three Monaco races. However, in one swoop Hamilton has nearly halved his deficit in the points standings.
Fifty and still going
Well done McLaren. Alonso and Button and both got points finishes. Alonso probably quite enjoyed keeping Rosberg behind him in the closing stages.
News (9 June)
The driver merry-go-round has started for 2017, or as we all call it, silly season.
The facts are this:
1. Nico Rosberg and Kimi are the only guys out of contract for 2017 at one of the top 3 teams (Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari). I'm calling Red Bull the second fastest now, as frankly they are on top of Ferrari right now.
2. Rosberg is highly likely to sign again for Mercedes. He has said as much, and Mercedes have said they wish to keep him. Why would he leave? Nowhere else would give him a car as dominating as the Merc. There was a brief rumour that Ferrari were sniffing around him, to replace Kimi. I really don't see that happening. It does make more sense for Ferrari than Nico though.
3. Kimi holds the key to the top line driver market. He wants to stay, Ferrari feel his relationship with Vettel works well. So, signing him for 2017 should be going ahead right? We'll see. He is still quick that is for sure.
4. There are a whole host of potentially better drivers wanting that Ferrari seat. Perez has done his top team hopes no harm at all recently. The 2013 McLaren was a bag of shit and I feel that perhaps a top drive came at the wrong time for him - He was on the way up, McLaren were well on their way down! Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Valtteri Bottas are all waiting for that top drive.
Though, Kimi is ahead of Vettel in the standings right now.
5. Ferrari need to decide - Do they maintain the status quo for the sake of the team, or do they draft in a hungry, younger racer to come and shake things up? Who knows?
6. Button is out of contract at McLaren. What he does not deserve at all is being treated like shit yet again in a "will they, won't they?" sign him for another year...
He is a champion and deserves only the best treatment frankly.
Rumour is that Williams will let Massa go and draft in Button when Vandoorne takes his seat.
7. Will Kvyat be at Torro Rosso in 2017? He has been slagging Red Bull off here and there non-stop since being sacked by the big team. We shall see.
Round 7: Canada predictions
Monaco was the place where a powerful engine matters least.
I cannot see Red Bull ruffling the feathers of Mercedes as much in Canada.
Hamilton knows how to win there, that is for sure.
You heard it here first! Top two will be Mercedes (I cannot predict which way around), then Ricciardo in third.
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, 2 May 2016
Round 4: Russia
Justin:
Best radio transmission of the year, or any year in recent history..
Clearly goes to Mr Vettel. Amongst the many bleeps, he was essentially exasperated at being punted off not once, but twice! Classic, amusing stuff there. Kvyat admitted fault for turn 2 as he locked up, but at turn 3 Vettel was lifting off because he thought he had damage. It's a bit more difficult to react when you are following someone a metre behind at 200mph, when they suddenly slow down where they are meant to be doing flat out.
Ferrari are not having the best of starts to a season at all. Then again, Kimi has collected two podiums in as many races. You'd have thought Vettel could have done more though.
Fun racing, but not at the front
It was a great race to watch, with plenty going on through the field, except at the front. Rosberg was comfortable in leading throughout and took his 4th win of the year, 7th in a row (joining Ascari and Schumacher on that tally, with only Vettel on 9 ahead of him). I've said this before...Hamilton ran off like a scalded dog for most of 2015 and there was no fighting at the front. Same for Rosberg right now.
Once again his main competition had problems and fell away at the start (Vettel), or even before the start (Hamilton with his engine issues starting 10th).
Rosberg knows the challenge will come eventually. Hamilton knows too. He also knows he can't buy any luck at all right now.
McLaren rising?
Alonso the racer and fighter is still there, as evidenced by him going round the outside of all the mess at turn 3. Opportunity/ luck/ instinct...call it what you will, it lifted him to 8th and he eventually finished 6th. Button took 10th and despite Vettel falling off the track, both guys said the pace was there and a double points finish was on merit.
Driver of the day
Max was running second for a while, Alonso got a good result. Both Williams drivers did well too. Magnussen came 7th....in a Renault. Right there is my driver of the day I think. Either him or Hamilton.
To Spain in two weeks we go. I want a fight at the front between Lewis and Nico.
Might be worth pointing out that it's twenty years since Damon Hill won the championship. To date, he is the only world champion son of a world champion. To date. Twenty years is a nice round number no?
The final word is for Ayrton Senna. I read somewhere that the Russian GP this year was the first to be held on May 1st since Senna died 22 years ago. Wow. 22 years. Still feels like yesterday.
A legend. He passed away on raceday, but of course we cannot forget Roland Ratzenberger, who died the day before.
Both guys were 34, which I only just realised.
Best radio transmission of the year, or any year in recent history..
Clearly goes to Mr Vettel. Amongst the many bleeps, he was essentially exasperated at being punted off not once, but twice! Classic, amusing stuff there. Kvyat admitted fault for turn 2 as he locked up, but at turn 3 Vettel was lifting off because he thought he had damage. It's a bit more difficult to react when you are following someone a metre behind at 200mph, when they suddenly slow down where they are meant to be doing flat out.
Ferrari are not having the best of starts to a season at all. Then again, Kimi has collected two podiums in as many races. You'd have thought Vettel could have done more though.
Fun racing, but not at the front
It was a great race to watch, with plenty going on through the field, except at the front. Rosberg was comfortable in leading throughout and took his 4th win of the year, 7th in a row (joining Ascari and Schumacher on that tally, with only Vettel on 9 ahead of him). I've said this before...Hamilton ran off like a scalded dog for most of 2015 and there was no fighting at the front. Same for Rosberg right now.
Once again his main competition had problems and fell away at the start (Vettel), or even before the start (Hamilton with his engine issues starting 10th).
Rosberg knows the challenge will come eventually. Hamilton knows too. He also knows he can't buy any luck at all right now.
McLaren rising?
Alonso the racer and fighter is still there, as evidenced by him going round the outside of all the mess at turn 3. Opportunity/ luck/ instinct...call it what you will, it lifted him to 8th and he eventually finished 6th. Button took 10th and despite Vettel falling off the track, both guys said the pace was there and a double points finish was on merit.
Driver of the day
Max was running second for a while, Alonso got a good result. Both Williams drivers did well too. Magnussen came 7th....in a Renault. Right there is my driver of the day I think. Either him or Hamilton.
To Spain in two weeks we go. I want a fight at the front between Lewis and Nico.
Might be worth pointing out that it's twenty years since Damon Hill won the championship. To date, he is the only world champion son of a world champion. To date. Twenty years is a nice round number no?
The final word is for Ayrton Senna. I read somewhere that the Russian GP this year was the first to be held on May 1st since Senna died 22 years ago. Wow. 22 years. Still feels like yesterday.
A legend. He passed away on raceday, but of course we cannot forget Roland Ratzenberger, who died the day before.
Both guys were 34, which I only just realised.
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