Why I love Formula One

Justin:

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


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

Where did it all start?

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the flesh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Bahrain!

That Haas to be painful...

Justin:

I won't apologise for spotting a great pun and going for it with the headline there.

I was absolutely gutted for the Haas team though. They were running, what was it 4th and 5th, or 4th and 6th and looking pretty comfortable to be honest before disaster struck. Of the midfield teams, they were clearly the quickest behind the top 3 of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. They were holding off Renault and McLaren pretty easily. Still, the big positive to take forward is that if they have that genuine pace for the year, then big points are on the horizon for sure.

Fernando Alonso got F1 Driver of the Day for a gutsy, fighty and opportunistic drive. He pounced on the virtual safety car to pit and then jump a couple of cars. Of course a spinning Max helped his cause, but Alonso came out of the pits in front of Max in 5th and held him back for the rest of the race. A good start for McLaren with Stoffel also in the points. I have to say, I am loving Kimoa sponsoring McLaren - witness Zak Brown wearing the very cool sunnies produced by the company owned by his star driver.

All in all, I have to say that this was a pretty average race overall. Lewis was walking it until Mercedes misjudged things and allowed a very opportunistic Vettel a chance with the virtual safety car pit stops. Give Vettel a sniff of blood and he'll bring it home. Then it was Lewis following Seb for the rest of the race. The Mercedes doesn't run too well in dirty air, actually not many of the cars do in this incarnation of the formula - witness Bottas struggling in 15th for a fair while before starting to progress through to 8th.

No fighting at the front. Which was one of my big annoyances from last year - minimal action mano a mano at the front. All the fun fighting is in midfield still, and there didn't seem to be a great deal of that today either.

There was a great overtake by Ricciardo on one of the Renaults I think. That guy can brake later than anyone! Fantastic stuff.

Anyway, on to Bahrain we go.

Australia qualifying report

Justin:

Well, ultimately, there were no great surprises. Lewis out ahead flanked by a Ferrari. That was an astonishing lap by Lewis and a huge gap to Kimi.

It caused a bit of a fruity press conference afterwards - Gotta love these two exchanging words.

Bottas has his work cut out after hitting the wall quite heavily. Still, with the speed on the Mercedes you'd expect him to rise through to the top 5 with relative ease.

The Renault team look strong, as do Haas (they have apparently remained within the rules whilst actually building very little of their car compared to other teams) - the latter are surely the most improved/ big surprise of 2018 so far?!

Fernando Alonso said during the build up that this would be the worst weekend for McLaren. He'd better hope so. I'd imagine they didn't have qualifying 11th and 12th in mind before Q3. That said, Alonso seemed ok with it.

There is a big gap between the top 3 teams and the best of the rest. There was one second from Daniel Ricciardo back to Kevin Magnussen. Not sure if I'm more concerned by that gap or the one between Lewis and the rest.

That said, the flip side is the top 3 were all mega close after Q2...but Lewis was holding back until obliterating everyone in Q3.

Unless Ferrari and Red Bull pull something very special out of the bag tomorrow (today now if anyone down under reads this), I don't think anyone other than Lewis will win this race.

It's great that F1 is back, but I hope we have fighting at the front tomorrow and don't just have to rely on midfield for close up racing.

We shall see.

Nearly time for lights out!!

Justin:

I think I either need to do a live blog during the race highlights on Sunday, or at least cynically post a blog during to piggyback on all the hashtag traffic to get me more readers :-).

There's just a handful of days until FP1 and we get more of an idea of the pecking order.

I'm competing yet again in a Fantasy F1 contest. I've picked 3 teams - my drivers include Ricciardo, Bottas, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Perez, Sainz. In fact, the Renault drivers and engines pop up a fair bit. Ocon is in there too.

I'm just bloody excited for it all to start now.

Have I mentioned this blogger is off to Canada in June too?!

F1 is back!

*Update - FP1 is very soon now!! F1 is back. This blog post is pretty much just me getting very excited and wanting to post something!!

F1 2018...go, go, go!!!!

Justin:

So, welcome back readers. I'm welcoming myself back here too. I last blogged in August 2017, after visiting Oviedo and the Fernando Alonso Collection.

It's been a while, for sure.

Before I go into what is happening in F1 - I just need to bask in the glory of the fact I have a ticket to see the Canadian Grand Prix this year. I cannot wait. Grandstand 12, 3 day ticket with mates, flat booked and flight booked. Bring it on.

That's four F1 themed holidays in the last four years - three of those were/are Grand Prix: Hungary 2015, Singapore 2016, Canada 2018. Boom.

I also need to purchase the new book by Darren Heath - I have all the others and need a bit of F1 photography before the first race. If I'm brave I may hashtag him when sharing this blog on Twitter in a shameless attempt to get more reads :-). Well, here is a link to his website anyway.

The rundown 
In truth, I survived the 3 or so months over winter with no F1 ( as opposed to every other year where I always needed a good F1 book). The title race became dull over the second half of 2017.

I'm using the BBC gossip column to update myself on rounding up the news here.

Some bits and pieces...

1. Looks like business as usual at the front end with Mercedes leading the way, followed by Ferrari and Red Bull.

2. After those teams, I think it's going to be closer than ever. Haas and Renault look like they have improved on 2017, whilst McLaren have made the biggest time difference gain in testing (fastest lap to fastest lap).

3. But really, we don't know until Australia. I'd imagine it will be a Mercedes clean sweep as usual. Sad and cynical as it makes me sound.

Here is Andrew Benson breaking it down.

Contracts
No disrespect to Bottas, but surely Ricciardo is on his way to Mercedes for 2019. Or Ferrari.

Actually, I'm hoping Bottas runs Hamilton much closer in 2018.



I think I called it incorrectly in my last blog. I thought Max was fed up at Red Bull, but he has signed a long term deal now. So, Ricciardo is looking at options and playing it cool for a bit.

Alonso
This guy is running in the WEC this year too. Fair play! I'm hoping McLaren have built a car worthy of his speed this year. Time to buy some new Alonso/ McLaren/ Renault merchandise.

Liberty
Not sure why they are faffing about hiring a Hollywood music person to write a theme song for F1.


There are surely bigger things to concentrate on first.

The state of TV in the UK after 2018 maybe?! More of this soon.

Maybe give the cash they are spending on the theme song back to the smaller teams. Or, give it to circuits that need to upgrade their facilities to be able to stay on the F1 calendar.

There's so many things they could do before faffing with a theme song for crying out loud.

A theme song? It's as if Bernie "let's have medals and sprinklers" Ecclestone never left.


TV coverage in UK
We have to take Liberty at their word. I imagine they explored the Sky contract for 2019 and it is watertight. That doesn't help viewing figures though.

Channel 4 gets more viewers for free practice sessions than Sky does for races.

It's all about money unfortunately. Though, I'd imagine Channel 4 could afford to pay large sums for a new live contract if they were given a chance.

Their coverage is awesome. They need to appeal to a wider audience as a given. Thus, their show is fun and accessible. But they also have the tech stuff too.

I watched Sky coverage twice. I've been watching F1 for 33 years now and I prefer Channel 4 coverage, even as a seasoned F1 viewer and fan. My I do sound pompous.

Anyway, who knows what coverage in the UK will be like after 2018. Let's enjoy it for now.

Roll on Australia, roll on F1 and roll on race day!

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

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


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

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

Lorenzo Bandini trophy

2003 Renault - First race win!

World title and world title winning Renault

2012 Ferrari

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Justin:

The lay of the land, post Nico...

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


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

More questions than answers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Driver of the year so far...

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

Fernando at Indy!

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

Nicky Hayden

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