Russian GP 2016

7th Heaven for Rosberg

In cruising to yet another victory at the Russian GP, Nico Rosberg entered a very exclusive club, becoming only the 4th driver in the sport’s history to achieve the feat of winning 7 races in a row. Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton finished a distant 2nd to Rosberg again, but mounted a brilliant drive from 10th after another engine issue in qualifying kept him out of the pole position shootout. Kimi Raikkonen scored Ferrari's 700th podium in Formula 1 after finishing 3rd behind the two Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas couldn't make the most of a front row start as he finished 4th, with his team mate, Felipe Massa bringing his car home 5th. There were welcomed points for McLaren and Renault as Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen finished 6th and 7th respectively, both scoring their first points this season. The Haas team returned to the points with Romain Grosjean finishing 8th ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez and McLaren's Jenson Button who finished in 10th, and set a new record for points scoring in consecutive seasons - his 17th point scoring season in succession. However, the main talking point of the race was again Dani Kvyat and Sebastian Vettel. It was handbags in China in my view but Russia was a different story as Vettel crashed out as a result of Kvyat. 

Rosberg once again got a stunning start and managed to avoid the chaos behind him. In China, Kvyat had plenty of space to put a move on Vettel, much to the Germans annoyance at the manner and speed at which it was done. Fast forward two weeks to Russia, and Kvyat is charging off the grid into turn one. They made it through into turn 2 and Kvyat just couldn't slow down and went straight into the back of Vettel. To make matters worse, going through turn 3 Kvyat hit Vettel again, causing the former World Champion to spin off into the barriers. Vettel was understandably furious with the young Russian, racing in front of his home fans, and gave a foul mouthed assessment of the situation. Further back more collisions occurred which saw both Esteban Gutierrez and Nico Hulkenberg collide with each other, taking them both out of the race. With another chaotic start and bits of car everywhere, the safety car made and appearance whilst all of the debris was cleared up. To make matters worse at Red Bull, the accident that Kvyat caused had a horrible effect on team mate Daniel Ricciardo's race, who had to make an emergency stop under the safety car and had to queue up behind Kvyat. Effectively, the whole team’s race was over by turn 1. As always however, there are drivers who benefit from this kind of situation. This time round it was Alonso and Magnussen, who qualified right down the field but were able to score good points.  

Despite all of this, the accomplishment of Nico Rosberg should not be overlooked. Rosberg's performance was nothing short of perfect, as it has been all season. Many people point to Lewis' reliability issues, but I believe that Rosberg has the edge over Hamilton regardless. Hamilton has been very sulky about the situation, but he must not forget the issues that have plagued Rosberg in previous seasons. I'm not implying that Rosberg would have won any championships during that time, but he may have been closer. Rosberg should enjoy the wave of luck he is finally getting in F1 while he can, because like the great Murray Walker says, anything can happen in F1, and it usually does.   

Formula Junior Starts in 2016

Maybe at some point in 2016 we will see a start to a race where the first corner is not littered with Formula 1 car parts. I can't remember a season or streak of races where so many collisions have occurred during the first few corners, or opening laps. Australia saw the heavy incident involving Alonso and Gutierrez which came further into the race. From Bahrain through until Russia, the starts to the pinnacle of motor racing have been nothing short of something you can view in GP2. Everybody enjoys close action racing going into turn 1, but the results lately have robbed fans of potentially thrilling races. Incidences in Bahrain involving Hamilton and Bottas stand out, and in China there were bit of front wing flying everywhere. Russia though was the tipping point. Kvyat steaming into Vettel like that was nothing short of amateur, and Vettel had every right to react in the manor he did. I think his interview during the race was handled in a brilliant manor by Vettel as he could have easily stood and slated Kvyat. He remained professional in my opinion and rightly went to speak to Red Bull boss Christian Horner. I believe the problem is many drivers are being thrown into F1 at such a young, inexperienced age. Yes, drivers such as Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton started at a young age, but had been through several racing formulas beforehand. Kvyat for example raced in GP3 for one season and came into F1. Max Verstappen didn't even do that before becoming F1's youngest ever driver. Although he will undoubtedly become World Champion one day, I think he should have had more junior formula experience, as is the case with many others. On Kvyat however, he can take some comfort in the fact that Romain Grosjean was being labelled as a liability on the circuit, and how he is one of the finest drivers out there. Just something to think about.

The Unflappable Finn

What is it about Finnish drivers in F1 and their inability to crack under pressure? As far as I can remember, the only time I've seen a Finn flap in F1 was back in 1999 when Mika Hakkinen spun at the Italian GP and lost it. That was a one off. I bring this up because watching Valtteri Bottas at the Russian GP was a joy to behold. Starting P2 on the grid with the faster Ferrari's behind him (thanks to Vettel's grid penalty) and obviously Hamilton who would charge through the field. Vettel obviously never managed to get near Bottas, but when Hamilton did he put him under enormous pressure which many drivers would crack under. Bottas never once showed a sign of cracking and it took a brilliant move by Hamilton to get past the unflappable Finn. Unfortunately for Bottas, his Williams just wasn't quick enough to get in a podium fighting place, but his race as a whole was brilliant.  

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.

      

Spanish GP 2015

Rosberg's Confidence Boost

Nico Rosberg finally got himself a much needed win at last Sunday's Spanish GP, making it his first of 2015. He carried on from his much improved performance in Bahrain and was the faster of the two Mercedes last weekend. He was even able to secure pole position, the first time this season that Lewis Hamilton has not started on pole. It was a beautifully calculated drive from Rosberg as he led away from the lights with no issues at all. His team mate Hamilton had a slower start and was down in 4th place by the first corner, only to come out in 3rd behind Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari. The two had a very good battle which was eventually won on strategy on Mercedes’ part, opting for Hamilton to three stop. His pace for this strategy to work was phenomenal, setting several fastest laps and comfortably came out ahead of Vettel to make it a Mercedes one-two at the end. What stood out for me over the weekend was how much more calm and assured Rosberg seemed compared to other races this season. I'm sure Bahrain would have boosted his confidence in the beginning, but this result will have gave him the belief that he can catch Lewis and take the title fight to him. The race at the weekend also made me think of a massive similarity in their rivalry to that of Prost and Senna. Hamilton's sheer speed and determination was typical of what Senna was like and the methodical drive of Rosberg for me had all the characteristics of a Prost-like drive. The Monaco GP cannot come soon enough!

9th Different Winner in 9 Years

An amazing statistic caught my eye over the weekend and that was Rosberg's win was the 9th different winner in the past 9 years at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. This is a circuit where teams spend most of their winters fine tuning their cars and enhancing performance. Even during in-season testing, this is the place where the teams will be. With all of the data and information they must possess about the track, it amazes me that no one can come to this circuit and make it their own, so to speak.

What Is Happening at Red Bull?

Red Bull's rotten season continued in Spain as they endured yet another very tough weekend. The four time World Champions were out performed by both Toro Rosso's and were nowhere in the race, finishing a lowly 7th and 10th, whilst also being lapped in the process! Daniel Ricciardo did manage to finish ahead of both Max Verstappen and Carlos Saenz, but Dani Kvyat was beaten by Sainz. Although Ricciardo has scored points in every race this season, it is nowhere near where he wants to be. So what is the issue this year? From what I can see there are 2, maybe 3, reasons at a push that are to blame. Number 1 and probably the easiest to blame is the Renault power unit. It has been slow and unreliable since the Red Bull and other Renault teams first rolled out of the garage. Ferrari seemed to have gained and overtook and they are miles away from Mercedes. The only saving grace for Renault is that the Honda power unit is slower. There has been a lot of speculation that Audi are looking to enter an F1 partnership with someone and I think Red Bull would be a brilliant fit. Number 2, the car itself. You could forgive Adrian Newey for designing a car that is slightly off once in a while after all the success he has had during his career. However, the team cannot hide from the fact that the car itself isn't good enough either, and whether that is down to Newey wanting to look at other opportunities, who knows? But it definitely needs addressing.

Number 3, at a push, is replacing Sebastian Vettel with Dani Kvyat. For me, you can't replace a 4 time World Champion with a driver with one season under his belt, albeit a very impressive one. I think you need someone with the experience and winning mentality, someone like Kimi Raikkonen or Fernando Alonso, and I think that this is another reason they are struggling.

Battle of the Finns

Another fascinating battle unravelled on Sunday as Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a hard fought battle over 4th and 5th place. Raikkonen had a quiet weekend overall and wasn't really anywhere in the race, although he was on a different strategy to that of team mate Vettel and did lead. A tyre blanket issue meant he wasted a set of the faster medium tyres and qualified back in 7^th. Bottas again showed why he could be on Ferrari's radar for next season after qualifying in 4^th and again had a solid race. His cool calm style ensured he was able to be in a position to fight with a Ferrari for the second race in a row, and once again came out on top. Raikkonen tried everything to get past his younger countryman but just couldn't do it. It was a battle I'm sure all fans enjoyed, and I'm sure it won't be the last one we see from them this season. 

A Shout Out to the Pit Crews

We all know that in Formula 1, a pit stop has the potential to make or break your race on any given day. The guys in the pit lane practise for hours upon hours every day to ensure they can get those four tyres changed at lightning speed. It all pays off when you see 4 tyres being change in 2.1 seconds! During the race we saw two incidents which made me think “who in Earth would want to be a front jack man?” (an opinion I've already held for years anyway). The two incidents I'm referring to are Fernando Alonso brake failure and Romain Grosjean's failure to stop. With Alonso's, the guy on the front jack's reactions were that of a cat. Alonso's brakes had failed and was unable to stop in his pit box. Imagine yourself stood there with a car coming at you at 50mph, I wouldn't fancy that! It shows how their reactions need to be incorporated at all times, not just when changing the tyres. It really could have been a serious incident, thankfully though, nobody was hurt. Now Grosjean's incident for me was very scary. He not only overshot his pit box, but caught the jack at the same time. The jack man somehow managed to hold on despite being thrown in the air, and jacked the car up. I was watching and wincing but thankfully once again, nobody was hurt. Although the guy appeared to be winded badly, he still managed a smile and thumbs up for the camera which was good to see.

Bahrain GP 2015

Nobody Can Do Anything About Hamilton

Round 4 of the 2015 Formula 1 World Championship came from the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, which saw Lewis Hamilton continue his impressive start to the season by winning the race ahead of a reinvigorated Kimi Raikkonen and his team mate Nico Rosberg. Again, it was a flawless performance from Hamilton as he eased into his 3rd victory of the season. The reigning World Champion looked so comfortable all afternoon and didn't seem as though he was going to be troubled at any point during the race. Ferrari tried splitting their strategies to see if they could exploit any weaknesses in the Mercedes team which won them a second place; but not the victory that they wanted. Kimi Raikkonen looked like the Kimi of old with his battling attitude and brilliant tyre management, meaning he was able to beat Rosberg to second and finished only 4.5 seconds behind Hamilton. He would have got my vote for driver of the day for sure! He managed to leap frog Rosberg for 3rd at the 1st corner and then chose to go for the medium tyre for his second stint, whereas Sebastian Vettel and the two Mercedes opted for another stint on the soft tyres. With Kimi's tyre management being fantastic and even matching Hamilton's times whist on the medium compound was truly impressive. Unfortunately for Kimi, the Mercedes are still that little too strong for the Ferrari, but at least thereT is a challenge from them this season. Had Rosberg not had his brake issue on the second last lap, Kimi may have only finished 3rd. That is not taking anything away from Raikkonen's drive, but I believe that Rosberg could have kept the Ferrari at bay for another lap had the breaks lasted on his car. Hamilton's closest title challenger, Sebastian Vettel, kept Hamilton honest again in his Ferrari before what seemed like driver error, caused front wing damage after he ran wide at the final corner after his second pit stop. This meant a new front wing and another podium thrown away for Vettel. It would definitely have been a tasty encounter had the two Ferrari's been right there at the end to put pressure on both Mercedes, but I am sure this will come sooner rather than later. The question going in to the first European race of the season is: what can anybody do about Lewis Hamilton taking a 3rd World Championship this season? 

Rosberg Shows Bite and Talent

Nico Rosberg has had a lot of criticism aimed at him in the close season and in the early part of this season; some of it justified and some of it not. The justifiable criticism is that Rosberg doesn't seem to have the same bite on track as Hamilton. This was seen on many occasions last season, none more so than the Bahrain GP where Nico had many opportunities to take the win from Hamilton but, just didn't seem to have that little bit extra that Hamilton has. This cost him on a few occasions last season especially in Italy and Russia. It also seems to have been missing in the first three rounds this season as he has not really had an answer for Hamilton's pace and hasn't been in any kind of rhythm. All of this changed in Bahrain as that bite was clear to see in the overtaking manoeuvres he produced on both Ferrari's, and the pressure that he put on Hamilton. Had this same bite been here since round one in Australia and in other rounds last season, Rosberg would be a different animal all together. I think that this is where the two drivers differ massively. Hamilton always has this bite when he is racing whereas Rosberg is hit and miss, and this proves to be the difference.

As I mentioned, there has been criticism of Rosberg that is totally unjustified in my opinion, and that is that he isn't on the same level as Lewis Hamilton.

I start this argument with the fact that you don't win at Monaco twice by accident like Rosberg has done. Rosberg is a fantastic driver and over many years has proven this time and time again. He would constantly out perform his Williams cars during his time there and how many people can say that they dominated Michael Schumacher in the same team? I know Schumacher wasn't the Schumacher of old when he was Rosberg's team mate, but this doesn't take anything away from Rosberg. So now he isn't as close to Hamilton as he would want to be. So he hasn't won as many Grand Prix or world championships. The fact of the matter is for me, is that he can be just as good as Hamilton and he has shown that many times. If he was to constantly perform the way he did in Bahrain and showed that talent and bite race in race out he would be giving Hamilton a proper run for his money, this much I promise you.

Bottas Shows Worth

It wouldn't be a race post without mention of one of F1s future stars or World Champions. Whilst watching the race I was noticing that none of the previous race’s stars stood out for me. Okay, the Toro Rosso's were nowhere all race, even after impressive qualifying from Carlos Sainz, which was a letdown. Felipe Nasr seemed to have a solid, if not spectacular, race and finished back in 12th. Step forward Valtteri Bottas. The Williams team seem to have consolidated their position as best of the rest behind the leading two teams, but nothing more. It was again another solid performance but the car seems to be missing a little something, a problem I am sure the team will be addressing. Despite this, Bottas' performance against Sebastian Vettel was flawless. Granted, he wouldn't have been in a position to fight Vettel had Sebastian not had that front wing change, but this should take nothing away from Bottas. He kept the Ferrari at bay during the closing stages of the race with some brilliant driving. Many other young drivers may have been intimidated into making a mistake and allow Vettel through, but not Bottas. He is so calm at the wheel of an F1 car and is exciting to watch as well. I say this a lot, but we are blessed to have such a brilliant crop of young drivers in the field and a lot of potential World Champions, Bottas being near the top of that list in my opinion.