Japanese GP 2015

Mercedes Bounce Back From Singapore Slump

Lewis Hamilton consolidated his lead at the top of the drivers' championship after a dominating drive saw him take victory at the Japanese GP. His closest challenger and team mate Nico Rosberg came home in 2^nd with Sebastian Vettel taking the final podium place. For Hamilton and Mercedes, it was back to business in Japan after the horror show of Singapore. A heavy crash in qualifying for Dani Kvyat prevented Hamilton from taking pole position from Romberg, but it didn't take Hamilton long to take the lead. A brilliant start from Hamilton allowed him to get alongside Rosberg into turn 1 and muscle his way into the lead. From then on, it was like a Sunday afternoon drive for Hamilton as he edges closer to a 3^rd World Championship. The result also saw Hamilton equal his hero Ayrton Senna's record of 41 grand prix victories. The joy was evident on Hamilton's face as he received his trophy in front of the thousands of Japanese fans.

Behind the Mercedes pair, the Ferrari pair also enjoyed another strong afternoon, even though they couldn't match the Mercedes for pace. Kimi Raikkonen beat fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas to 4th place, whilst Nico Hulkenberg came from 13th on the grid to finish a brilliant 6th. A stand out result, and possibly the most needed one, was the Lotus double points score with Romain Grosjean finishing 7th ahead of Pastor Maldonado. It was a difficult weekend for the team, whose equipment was late in arriving and were locked out of their hospitality unit all weekend. Things were so bad that Bernie Ecclestone stepped in to feed the team. Hopefully the Renault buy-out of the team will happen very soon. The Toro Rosso pair rounded off the points places, with Max Verstappen 9^th and Carlos Sainz 10^th after starting 17^th and colliding with the pit lane bollard. It was a torrid day for Red Bull, with Dani Kvyat starting from the pit lane after his huge crash in qualifying and finishing a lowly 13^th. Team mate Daniel Ricciardo finished 15^th after starting 7^th, but a collision with Felipe Massa as they went through turn 1 meant he had to pit for repairs.

Rosberg Not Tough Enough

For the second season running, Lewis Hamilton has proven how good he truly is. For the second season running, Nico Rosberg has shown how good he can be but, unfortunately for Rosberg, he is nowhere near Hamilton's level. The difference between Hamilton and Rosberg is that Hamilton is so much more consistent and willing to win at all costs. The aggression that he produced at turn 1 to get past Rosberg is the real difference between the two drivers. Had those roles been reversed, I don't believe Rosberg would have shown the same ruthlessness as Hamilton. Both have the same machinery, but only one has that win-at-all-costs attitude. Rosberg's conservatism has cost him many times this season, and it did so again at the Japanese GP. When Hamilton overtook Rosberg, Rosberg managed to slip to 4^th place behind Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas, and ultimately cost him any chance of catching and passing Hamilton. He did well to get past Bottas and eventually undercut Vettel at the pit stops, but after that there was nothing he could do to get near Hamilton, let alone pass him. We've seen over the years Hamilton's ability to get quick laps in when they are needed, but in Rosberg's case he hasn't been able to deliver in that respect. Rosberg's body language has a defeated look to it, and he will want this season to end so he can go away over the winter and look at ways to improve himself and come back in 2016 a better driver.

Alonso in New McLaren Outburst

It's fair to say, Fernando Alonso's return to McLaren hasn't went the way the Spaniard would have liked. 11 points scored all season, seriously down on power and reliability issues the length of my arm, you can understand why the double World Champion isn't a happy man. His latest outburst over the team radio at the Japanese GP, Honda's home grand prix, has left many wondering if Alonso will be in F1 at all next year, never mind at McLaren.

Alonso finished a lap down in 11th place after describing his team's performance during the race as very embarrassing. His damning verdict came early in the race whilst he was briefly running in the points, but was passed with ease by Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso and Marcus Ericcson's Sauber. Both moves were in the DRS zone going into turn 1, with the Honda power unit showing how much power it was lacking. To make matters worse for Alonso and the team, Max Verstappen also overtook Alonso at the same point leading to Alonso calling his engine a GP2 engine. This latest outburst from Alonso did not go down well with Ron Dennis, the McLaren CEO, who came out and said he was unhappy with Alonso's remarks. Alonso is adamant that he will see out his contract with the team, which has another two years to go. However, I can see another early divorce for Alonso and McLaren if the team don't improve next year. If the team struggles in the final 5 races the way they have all season, it may happen even sooner. 

Singapore GP 2015

Vettel Dominates as Mercedes Hit Troubles

Sebastian Vettel once again reminded fans of why he has won four Formula 1 World Championship crowns after a stunning lights to flag victory at the Singapore GP. Daniel Ricciardo finished second behind his former team mate, with Kimi Raikkonen rounding off the top 3. Two notable absences from the podium were the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Rosberg came home 4th whilst his title rival Hamilton failed to finish for the first time this season. It was also the first time this season that a Mercedes driver hasn't finished on the podium. So with Rosberg's engine failure in Italy and Hamilton's retirement in Singapore, is this just a blip for Mercedes or is there a serious problem slowly creeping in?

Hamilton's retirement is being blamed on a "freak issue" by the team, but this will surely worry Hamilton with the Japanese GP just one week after Singapore. The problem with back to back races is that the team will not have as much time as usual to determine what went wrong in Singapore, and to make sure the problem is rectified before Japan. Thankfully for Hamilton though, Rosberg was unable to take full advantage of the situation and still sits 41 points behind Hamilton in the standings. For Mercedes though, it was a baffling weekend in general. From total domination two weeks before in Italy to being almost three seconds off Vettel, is certainly a worry. The Marina Bay street circuit is a very different from many circuits on the calendar - and it certainly showed. The twists and bends of the circuit played straight into Ferrari's and Red Bull's hands, and showed that the Mercedes do have weaknesses. The fact that the circuit isn't focused on power may be a plausible explanation to the slump in performance, but the team won't feel comfortable until they know exactly what caused the issues. Japan may provide some reassurance for the team with a focus back towards power and give more indication if there an underlying issue, or if it was a one-off weekend.

Verstappen Provides the Entertainment Again

Formula 1 once again produced a tepid grand prix, albeit with a different victor this time out. Sebastian Vettel did what the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton has done for the majority of the season. So once again, we must look for the action further down the field. Once again, Max Verstappen stepped up to produce a superb drive that kept viewers entertained. It wasn't an easy evening for the teenager however, as he stalled on the grid from 8th position and found himself a lap down, seemingly ruining his race before it even started. A collision between Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa brought out the safety car, enabling Verstappen to un-lap himself and begin to make good progress through the pack. One safety car period enabled Verstappen to fight his way through the field, another safety car period put Verstappen right in the fight for points again. On the super-soft tyres, Verstappen pulled off some of the fantastic moves that we've been accustom to all season, allowing him to finish an impressive 8th place.

During his fight from the back, he was in a constant duel with his team mate Carlos Sainz. In the closing laps of the race, Verstappen was then asked to swap place with Sainz by the team, who determined Sainz had fresher tyres and could challenge Sergio Perez for 7th. The decision didn't go down well with Verstappen who reacted angrily and defied his team.

Personally I think Verstappen had every right to ignore his team. If you can drag yourself from being a lap down, albeit with safety car periods, and find yourself in 8th place with 5 laps to go, there really isn't any need for him to move over. Had the Toro Rosso had a more powerful engine he may have gotten Perez, whose top speed was just too much for the young Dutchman. Verstappen did say afterwards that he feared the reaction of his dad, ex F1 driver Jos Verstappen, more than the team’s. Verstappen said "He told me if I had let him past he would have kicked me in the nuts" All the motivation that Max needed right there!

Maldonado Signs on for 2016

I suppose it was inevitable that the announcement of Pastor Maldonado having another year in F1 was announced after the Singapore GP, when Lotus announced that he would be driving for the team next year. It was a very strange announcement from the team with it being very low key, and a lot of the media had already packed up and left the circuit. On top of that, the team had already left the circuit as well when the press release came out. Lotus did not want to talk about their line-up for obvious reason. I have written a lot on Maldonado this season, and how patience surely should have been lost by now with him. Unfortunately what this announcement says, once again, is that money is more important and influential in getting a drive in F1 than talent. Also what was notable from the driver announcement was that there was no mention of Romain Grosjean, fuelling speculation that Grosjean is ready to walk away from Lotus at the end of the season. On the upside to this, the announcement could indicate that Lotus will be staying in F1 for 2016, which is brilliant news. The team only staved off a winding-up petition in the high court three days earlier, which revealed how bad Lotus' debt actually is. For the sake of the team, Renault's buyout of the team can't come soon enough.

Hungarian GP 2015

Hamilton Implodes as Vettel Takes Victory

Lewis Hamilton said he had "a bad day at the office" as he slumped to a 6th place finish after a poor showing at the Hungarian GP, which was won brilliantly by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Dani Kvyat scored his first ever podium finish in 2nd, followed by the 2014 winner, Daniel Ricciardo. Fernando Alonso scored McLaren's best finish of the season, coming home in 5th ahead of Hamilton's Mercedes. It was a fantastic race from start to finish with action all over the circuit; but the major talking point from the race was Hamilton's poor performance. For the first time that I can remember, he looked like a distinctly average racing driver. All season, fans have seen him drive like a true champion, with all those years of experience under his belt. His performance in Hungary however was littered with errors throughout; from his first excursion across the gravel which saw him drop to 10th early on, to his collision with Daniel Ricciardo, which resulted in front wing damage for Hamilton. Hamilton's afternoon got worse before it got better, as he received a drive through penalty for the incident with Ricciardo. Only a puncture for team mate Nico Rosberg near the end of the race, again after a collision with Ricciardo, meant Hamilton finished ahead of his championship rival and extended his championship lead to 21 points going into the summer break. 

Whilst all of this was happening, Vettel scored his second victory of the season after a truly brilliant drive from the second the lights went out. His start was fantastic and he was leading the race into the first corner, and never really looked in trouble from there. He has often been questioned over the last 18 months about his ability in a car that isn't the most dominant on the grid, like the ones he had during his time at Red Bull, but for me his performance in Hungary should silence those critics.

Red Bull stood out for all the right reasons during the race, with their cars coming home 2nd and 3rd. Both drivers put in brilliant performances after poor starts. Kvyat dropped as low as 13th at one point and looked like he was going nowhere. Ricciardo also dropped from a 4th place start down into 9th as well. The Red Bull package worked really well around the tight and twisty Hungaroring, where the engine power output isn't as important as it is at other circuits. This can't take anything away from either driver as Kvyat's drive was brilliantly clean coming through the field, and Ricciardo's speed was evident throughout as he was putting in fastest laps and closing down both Mercedes at one point. His bravery on the brakes at turn one was also something to admire. He was coming from such a long way back for some of his overtakes and making them stick superbly. Granted, his collision with Rosberg came from one of these gutsy attempts, but it didn't stop him from claiming another podium in Hungary.

Kimi's Poor Luck Continues

It was a tale of two stories for Ferrari at the Hungarian GP, as Kimi Raikkonen had another disappointing weekend as the pressure mounts on the Finn for 2016. All season, it has been Vettel scoring the big points for Ferrari with two victories and a few more podiums. Raikkonen on the other hand has had an indifferent time this year. He has scored podiums yes, but the consistency that Vettel has been delivering hasn't been there from Kimi, something that is putting doubts over Kimi's drive at the team next year.

Raikkonen was having a strong weekend in general in Hungary, even leading the race at certain stages through pit stops ahead of him. The team were nailed on for a one-two finish as Kimi looked reasonably untroubled in second place before a technical issue caused him to fall back through the field, eventually causing him to retire from the race. His bad luck streak has hit a hat-trick now after his accident in Austria, which saw him retire and a bad tyre call in Britain. For Kimi to stay at Ferrari next season, his luck has to change after the summer break and he will have dug extremely deep and shown the talent which saw him win the 2007 World Championship.

How Many More Chances For Maldonado?

The Hungarian GP saw Lotus' Pastor Maldonado receive a hat-trick of penalties during the race. The penalties were for pit lane speeding, overtaking under the safety car and a collision with Sergio Perez. Maldonado may be a race winner in F1 but for me, he has had way too many chances in the sport, and I think it is high time that he was replaced at Lotus. His career has been overshadowed by incidences and high profile collisions, most notably with Lewis Hamilton at Monaco in 2011 and in Valencia 2012. His crash at Bahrain last year with Esteban Gutierrez, where he managed to flip the Sauber, was another incident that stood out. He has retired from 6 out of the 10 races this season which in all fairness, not all were down to him crashing the car. A hat-trick of penalties in one race though is a bit extreme, and for incidents that he as an elite racing driver shouldn't be incurring. Pit lane speeding and overtaking under the safety car is something you would expect to see from a rookie, not a driver with 4 seasons under his belt. Personally, I believe if he didn't have his oil money backing, Maldonado wouldn't have been in F1 long enough to win a race let alone be in the sport for 4 full seasons.

F1 Says Farewell to Jules Bianchi

I couldn't write this without mentioning the untimely passing of Jules Bianchi and the tribute that was paid to the young Frenchman at the Hungarian GP. It had been a very difficult week for everyone involved with the sport and it was clear to see from the start of the weekend. The minutes silence that was held before the start of the race was a fantastic touch from everyone involved. The scene of all twenty drivers stood round in a circle with their racing helmets in the middle with Jules' taking centre stage is something that will stay in my mind for many years to come. It was fitting tribute to Jules that the race was such a fantastic spectacle for the fans and all the teams and people involved. #CiaoJules