Canadian GP 2016

Rosberg's Gap Down to Nine as Hamilton Wins

Nico Rosberg has seen his championship lead cut to just nine points as Lewis Hamilton claimed victory at the Canadian GP in Montréal. Hamilton finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Williams' Valtteri Bottas. Max Verstappen bounced back from a disappointing Monaco showing to finish 4th ahead of championship leader Rosberg. Kimi Raikkonen's recent poor form continued as he finished in 6th. Daniel Ricciardo's scrappy race saw him finish 7th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez.

Hamilton's victory was not as straight forward as he would have hoped as Vettel, who was on a different strategy to Hamilton, pushed him hard throughout. Vettel got off to a dream start as he came from 3rd to lead into the first corner. Behind Vettel, the two Mercedes had another coming together, although not as severe as the one in Spain. It did however see Rosberg having to run wide at turn 2 and drop to 10th. Rosberg was on a recovery drive from lap 1 and seemed to have the same tyre issues that cost him dearly in Monaco. He did not surge back through the pack like many would have expected. He did what he could and so easily could have finished 3rd. As he was chasing Bottas for the final podium place he peeled off into the pits after a slow puncture was discovered by the team. Rosberg recovered again and was hunting down Verstappen for 4th and made his move on the penultimate lap when he went up the inside of the young Dutchman at the final chicane. Unfortunately for Rosberg, he lost the back end of his Mercedes under braking and spun off into the run off area. He was fortunate not to hit anything and held off Raikkonen's challenge on the final lap to secure 5th but it could have been more for Rosberg.

After his scintillating start, Vettel led the opening stint of the race and was locked into a two-stop strategy after Ferrari opted to stop him under the virtual safety car that was caused by the retiring Jenson Button on lap 12. With Vettel pitting, Hamilton was able to use his one-stop strategy to his advantage. Vettel re-took the lead whilst Hamilton made his one and only stop but conceded the lead after making his second stop. Vettel looked as though he was pulling Hamilton in as the laps tumbled but, another uncharacteristic mistake by Vettel saw him run wide as the final chicane and all but gift Hamilton his 45th victory in Formula One.

The main talking point from the race was surely Rosberg's championship lead eroding so dramatically over the past two races. Three weeks ago, Rosberg looked to be in total control of the championship having won four of the first five races. By the time the European GP in Azerbaijan is complete in just 7 days, Hamilton could have toppled Rosberg for the championship lead. Rosberg needs a strong showing at the European GP but possibly more importantly, the team need to work out their start procedure. In Canada, we saw a carbon copy of Australia where the Mercedes pair where almost at a standstill as Vettel left them for dust. If Ferrari keep improving their engine performance at the rate they are now, and are able to jump the Mercedes at the start, Mercedes will have a real fight on their hands.

Who is Making the Ferrari Pit Calls?

Something does not seem right at Ferrari this season. After the Canadian GP, Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said that the team overestimated the tyre degradation, naming this the reason that the team opted to pit Vettel under the virtual safety car.

I bring this up because this is not the first time this season that the Ferrari team have made a call on strategy which has resulted in them throwing away a victory. In Australia, the decision not to run the medium tyre due to their lack of knowledge handed victory to Nico Rosberg who ran the medium tyre. Possible errors in Spain meant that with no Mercedes on track, Ferrari let another possible victory slip through their fingers, handing it to Max Verstappen. The latest episode has now occurred in Canada. Vettel did what he had to on the track but I believe that the team have been letting him down from the pit wall. Vettel could have easily had two victories this season, but strategy calls have cost him. Even after his second stop in Canada, Vettel closed to within 4.3 seconds of Hamilton and closing still until his error completely binned his chances of victory. It is an area that needs to be improved before big pressure arrives from the top of the Ferrari company.

Who Will be at Williams Next Season?

Although it is still early in the season, it doesn't mean that the rumours about the 2017 driver line up can't begin. Over the Canadian GP weekend, it was the Williams team driver line up that had the rumour mill buzzing. Rumours that Jenson Button will leave McLaren and return to the team that gave him his debut back in 2000 were all over the press. Neither party were quick to play down the reports but stopped short of saying something was in place. Ron Dennis has made no secret of his desire to have Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren car in the not so distant future and a move to Williams may suit both parties. So who would partner him? Rumours going round claim that this will be Felipe Massa last at the team and would probably mean his last in the sport. With Max Verstappen being tied down at Red Bull now, it may be possible that Ferrari would turn their attention to Bottas to replace Raikkonen who, after a promising start to the season has went on a downward spiral. However others such as the Force India pair of Hulkenberg and Perez, Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz and even Haas' Romain Grosjean would believe they should be looked at as well. At the moment, it looks like Williams hold the key to the driver market for the 2017 season, although it is very early days.    

Russian GP 2015

Rosberg Retires as Hamilton Closes in on Third Championship

Nico Rosberg's title challenge is all but over after he retired from the lead of the Russian grand prix and handed the win to team mate Lewis Hamilton; who now only needs two points to clinch his third world championship. Sebastian Vettel came home in second place whilst Sergio Perez finished a spectacular third place. But, unfortunately for Perez and Force India, it was the retirement of Rosberg that caused a lot of the talk after the race. Having taken pole position on the Saturday, Rosberg made a brilliant start and kept the lead into the first corner, something that has somewhat eluded him in recent races. No doubt he would have had last year's nightmare start on his mind, where he out braked himself into turn 1, ruining his tyres and his race. No such problem this time though as he kept Hamilton behind him and set about building a gap. However, Romberg’s luck just wasn't there again, as he seemed to have a problem on lap 6. By lap 8, he had pulled into his pit box and turned the engine off. His race and championship were over. For Hamilton though, it was another casual Sunday afternoon drive for the British driver, who cruised another win closer to equalling Ayrton Senna's haul of three World Championships.

Behind Rosberg and Hamilton at the start, Nico Hulkenberg caused bedlam whilst spinning at turn 1, causing Max Verstappen to pick up a puncture and fall to the back of the grid. Amongst all this, Kimi Raikkonen managed to creep into third place ahead of his team mate Vettel and fellow countryman Valtteri Bottas. A few laps later, a huge crash where Romain Grosjean lost control of his Lotus at turn three resulted in the barriers needing a quick repair job. This incident not surprisingly brought out the safety car again, at which point Sergio Perez made his only stop of the race. Perez was able to make good uses of his tyres, as we have seen him do over the years and kept a tight hold on the final podium place. With older tyres though, both Raikkonen and Bottas were catching the Mexican hand over fist. With just two laps to go, Bottas got a head of Perez, as did Raikkonen, and Perez's first podium since Bahrain 2014 seemed to be gone. There was one more twist involved however. Raikkonen wanted that final podium place, and had one lap to get his move done. He went for a move on Bottas which ultimately took out his countryman, allowing Perez to drive through and take the final podium place. Raikkonen's antics saw him penalised thirty seconds and end up finishing in eighth.

Perez's Quality Shining Unnoticed

Over the last few years, it has been Nico Hulkenberg that has grabbed the headlines as F1's most underrated, should be in a top car driver, and obviously with great justification. He won the Le Man 24hour in June, and constantly displays his talent at every event. His team mate Sergio Perez seemingly had his shot at a top drive at McLaren and blew it massively, not displaying the talent that saw him replace Lewis Hamilton for the 2013 season. 2013 wasn't the season that Perez thought it would be, with the team’s decline starting steadily, with Perez's highest finish for the team a 4th place. We must not forget that this is a driver who could have, and probably should have, won the Malaysian grand prix in 2012 for Sauber, only to finish second behind Fernando Alonso. Throughout his time at Saucer, he showed just how good of a driver he is, especially with his tyre management.

When the announcement came in near the end of the 2013 that Perez wouldn't be getting kept on at McLaren, there were a lot of people who thought that that was it for Perez and his F1 career. Step in Force India to save him from the F1 abyss and inject a resurgence into his career. Since he signed for Force India, he has been the Perez of old, with some really eye catching performances - especially this season. His confidence has came back which has been a key factor in his F1 stock rising again. What stands out most for me is that whilst Perez has had two podiums for the team, the more highly rated Hulkenberg has none. Potentially, Force India have one of the strongest driver line ups on the grid, if only they could produce the car to go with the talent they have in it.

Sainz Has Eventful Weekend

During qualifying, Carlos Sainz suffered what could only be described as a horror crash. Sainz crashed into the barriers at turn 13 at 200mph and hit the barrier with an impact around 46G. Sainz spent the night in hospital and many wondered if he would race at all on the Sunday. Unbelievably, Sainz was cleared to race and didn't look back. He did admit to feeling dizzy at the beginning of the race, which does throw questions about his fitness into the spotlight. Despite this, Sainz had a fantastic race and his retirement late on was very harsh on the young Spaniard. If Max Verstappen wasn't his team mate this season, I believe a lot of talk would have been about Sainz. If you look at the amount of times Sainz has retired from a points position, he would be right up there with Verstappen. Sainz's only issue with having Verstappen as a team mate is that Max is still on a learning curve, and can only get better. Sainz obviously is still very young and on a learning curve himself, and still has plenty of time to establish himself in Formula 1.

      

Austrian GP 2015

Rosberg is King of the Ring

Nico Rosberg cut team mate Lewis Hamilton's lead in the World Championship to just 10 points after a brilliant drive to win the Austrian Grand Prix. Felipe Massa followed the two Mercedes home in 3^rd, with Sebastian Vettel finishing 4th after a pit stop error cost him another podium. Valteri Bottas came home 5th with a superb Nico Hulkenberg finishing 6th. The stand out performance of the race was Rosberg's calm assured drive, which made for fantastic viewing. Like many races this season, the Austrian GP didn't produce the most eye catching of races, but there seemed to be something happening all the time to keep the interest there. I personally enjoyed watching the race, especially seeing Rosberg show his true talent and skill. He had been quick all weekend and only an error in qualifying stopped him from lining up on pole position. Instead it was Hamilton who took yet another pole, trying to score his first win in Austria. Rosberg knew he had to attack Hamilton from the off and that's exactly what he did, pulling off a brilliant move into the first corner. What also stood out about Rosberg's drive was the fact he beat Hamilton on sheer speed and skill, something that doesn't happen very often. His last victory in Monaco was gifted on a plate, but this was a lot different. All weekend Rosberg seemed to have an edge over Hamilton, which he needs to do on a consistent basis if he is to challenge Hamilton for the title. Even the tone in his voice near the end of the race whilst talking to the team was that of a man who wants to be World Champion. He will have to try and maintain some form of momentum, especially with the British Grand Prix coming up next.

Interest was also grabbed further back after the scrapping Mercedes, as Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso had a very dangerous accident where Raikkonen got on the power too quickly and his Ferrari stepped out. This saw Alonso collide with the Finn and end up mounting the Ferrari right in front on the cockpit. Thankfully both Alonso and Raikkonen walked away from the incident with zero injuries. This incident re-ignited the debate over closed cockpits for the drivers. This isn't the first time Alonso has been involved in a collision like this. In Belgium in 2012, Romain Grosjean ended up flying across Alonso's cockpit and earned himself a race ban. I still don't see the need for closed cockpits as the F.I.A are constantly looking at and reviewing driver safety, and it is a rare occasion a collision of this nature occurs.

Miserable Weekend's for McLaren and Red Bull

The Red Bull Ring, as it is now known, didn't bring its home team any change of fortune, as Red Bull only scored one point at its home event. Grid penalties had hampered the team before the race even started, making things even more difficult for the Austrian outfit. With the team having a poor season so far and talk of them pulling out the sport, the Austrian GP was meant to be something to make the home crowd cheer about. The complete opposite happened and will have left many people wondering; how long will Red Bull remain in F1?

McLaren didn't fare much better, as Jenson Button had to retire from the race with car troubles, this after Alonso's big accident. McLaren were treating the race like another testing session, as both drivers had combined 25 place grid penalties for gearbox and power unit changes. It was going to be a tough race to start with as the circuit put a lot of focus on the power units. So to bring new parts to the race to see how they would cope was a no-brainer for the team.

The massive down point for McLaren with this idea was that all of the new parts went on Alonso's car, who didn't make it to turn 3. All in all it was a woeful weekend for the team, with sights now firmly set on the British Grand Prix.

How Much Longer Can Hulkenberg Be Ignored?

Following his superb victory at the Le Man 24hour the week before, Nico Hulkenberg once again reminded motor racing fans everywhere of just how good he is. He outperformed his Force India again to start in a brilliant 5th place in Austria, and managed to fit with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas all through the race to come home 6th. What the race in Le Man and Austria did was remind fans of the huge potential that has been clear since he came into Formula 1 in 2010 with Williams. Since then, Hulkenberg has been restricted to mid field teams such as Sauber and two spells with Force India. Each of his seasons in F1 he has outperformed his team mate and more impressively, his car. Think back to his Sauber days in 2013 in Korea, where he held off Fernando Alonso's Ferrari and finished a superb 4th place.

It would have appeared his chance at a top team has been and gone in the sense that he was overlooked for Lotus and Ferrari last year, and went back to Force India. I hope he doesn't become one of the many drivers throughout the years that doesn't live up to his full potential. What Le Man has done for Hulkenberg, however is put him firmly back in the shop window. He proved that if he is given the machinery, he will deliver; and that is something that has to appeal to the likes of Ferrari, who may be looking at alternatives to Raikkonen for next year. Kimi had another bad weekend in the Scuderia, qualifying way down in 18th before his accident after turn 2. There has been talk of Valtteri Bottas taking over Raikkonen but, I wouldn't discount Hulkenberg from this equation.