Mercedes hand Rosberg win as Lewis loses out

Sometimes Monaco can be a classic race, sometimes it's a processional bore. In terms of the spectacle of 200mph cars navigating between the barriers of the most famous streets in racing it is quite breathtaking. Take a look at these machines going through the swimming pool section, it makes my heart jump, it's simply awe-inspiring how these drivers with millimetre precision thread their way through, jumping from kerb to barrier, just a whisker from disaster. And they do it 78 times pushing to the edge.

2015's race was in truth one of the more processional events, particularly at the front. Lewis Hamilton was serenely making his way to his fourth victory of the year and his second around Monaco. A quite brilliant pole position and a fine start followed by a great turn of speed when he needed it had taken him to a 20 second lead and just 14 laps from victory. 

Behind Max Verstappen had been all kinds of brilliant over the weekend. In the race a dodgy pit stop had dropped him out of a points paying position, but he was fighting back, using the leaders to pass people as he attached himself to their gearboxes as they lapped traffic. He came upon Romain Grosjean in the Lotus. One more pass and Max would be back in the points. Onto the start finish straight on lap 64, DRS wide open, he made a move...

Star of the race

In any other circumstances, Verstappen would have been far and away my star of the race. He livened up proceedings while everyone else stared at the back of the car in front. It was his first time racing through the barrier lined street track on the Mediterranean and he seemed immediately at home. He pushed his Toro Rosso, going second quickest in practice one, crashing in practice three, qualifying in the top 10 then running confidently in the points until a botched pit stop dropped him back. From there he charged. It's obvious he's going to be a Monaco winner at some point.

But then came lap 64, every driver will get bitten by Monaco at some point. Max had the circuit take a nibble from his rear wing during practice, but in the race, the barriers claimed the whole car. Darting around the back of Grosjean's Lotus, making a remarkable recovery back into the points, Verstappen was about to dive to the inside of turn 1 Sainte Devote, he claimed Grosjean braked early, Max had no time to clear the Louts, slamming into the back of Grosjean and then headed straight for the barriers. It was a sad end to a starring role, but it led to a safety car which destroyed Hamilton's race, the man who'd quietly been dominating the day.

Hamilton was the star. After last year's, and many other years Monaco disappointments, Hamilton was unstoppable. After losing his way on set up in qualifying he had bounced back to take pole position with two laps good enough for the top spot. If his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg thought he was about to get some momentum building for a title charge after his Spanish win, Lewis was certainly making him think again.

A fine start, a great turn of speed when needed, he was away. Then Verstappen crashed, safety car was deployed, the field would soon be closed up. Mercedes looked at the timing screens and thought Lewis had enough of a gap to pit for fresh tyres, seemingly as a precaution. This was to protect from Ferrari putting third placed Sebastian Vettel on fresh rubber and having a run on the Mercedes. But this is Monaco where passing is difficult at the best of times, surely staying out and avoiding any problems would be best?

Mercedes pitted Lewis, Rosberg in second with Vettel just behind didn't. Mercedes had also not checked the updated gaps, he didn't have enough of a gap, he wouldn't make it out in time to still be leading a race he was controlling with ease. He wouldn't even make it out second. Both his main title rivals who had nothing in answer to the pace of Lewis were now in front and there was no explanation from the team. They'd just cost their main driver the race. And Lewis knew it, third was no consolation. He was dignified in his defeat, he didn't criticise the team. He knew he was the fastest in Monaco, and he said he'll make sure he wins next time out. But this will hurt.  

The Winner

Nico Rosberg found himself winning Monaco for the third time in succession. He was lucky, very lucky, his Mercedes team had gifted him the win. To be fair he didn't put a wheel wrong during the race, but his wheels weren't as quick as his team mate's, so in reality it was pretty hollow, but he'll take it, now he's just ten points adrift on Lewis in the championship fight. 

Vettel took second for Ferrari, another one to play follow the leader. Ferrari were closer to Mercedes in the race, at least to Rosberg, but he'll know they need even more if they're going to challenge for the title. 

The battles

There were a few battles going on, but none which excited until Verstappen began his ultimately futile charge. Daniel Ricciardo made a move on Kimi Raikkonen in to Mirabeau after the restart which was rough, but the stewards deemed fair. Kimi was quite restrained when he called it rude, it left him just sixth.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso made a similar move on Nico Hulkenberg on the opening lap which left the Force India driver in the wall. He recovered to 11th, but his pace deserved more. 

Perhaps the best move was when Grosjean let Vettel through to lap him but brilliantly blocked out the charging Verstappen. There was some close running down the field, but it wasn't a passing fest, it was more these streets weren't built for two.   

Things of note

Red Bull got both their cars in the top five with Daniil Kvyat overtaking Ricciardo at the start to run fourth to the flag despite letting Ricciardo through to chase down Vettel and Hamilton on newer tyres. When that didn't work out the team instructed the order to be reversed. It was a good day after a bit of a disastrous 2015 so far.

A fine result for Force India with Sergio Perez doing better than the team thought possible with a great seventh. Jenson Button brought McLaren-Honda their first points of the year with eighth. They are getting better even though Alonso retired half way through but he was running in the points. However, I fear there may be a dip in Canada where power is a nice thing to have.

Felipe Nasr topped up Sauber's points haul with ninth while Carlos Sainz got Toro Rosso a point with 10th despite starting from the pit lane. A great drive unnoticed thanks to the exploits of Verstappen. The Williams team were a disaster here, it should be a one off as their car just didn't work in a high down force set up. Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus showed well, but was an early retirement after having out qualified Grosjean for the first time this year.

One of the big talking points this weekend were the events of an F1 strategy group meeting that had taken place in the preceding week. They came up with various ideas including bringing back refuelling which had been banned previously because of safety and expense. Apparently when half the grid are struggling to pay the bills, it's now deemed affordable. I do applaud some ideas like making the cars five to six seconds quicker by 2017, but they didn't tackle the overriding issue which is costs.

It's apparently rumoured that customer cars is the solution, which means basically the top teams will sell their chassis to lower order teams. This has happened in the past, but generally speaking Formula 1 is meant to attract the best teams who build their own cars to go racing. This is what separates it from the other racing series. It'll eventually lead to a one make formula because why would anyone buy from a team who consistently doesn't win? It's not Formula 1. F1 is a driver challenge, but it is also a technical challenge. 

I want to know that these drivers are driving the fastest cars in the world, driven to be the best because each team is competing to make the ultimate machine. When that isn't happening you might as well call it Formula one make. They were better off discussing about how to enforce a budget cap whereby they open up the rules once more and let people create whatever they like under a basic set of rules to a certain amount of money. That and getting rid of the commercial rights holder CVC who continue to try to run this great sport into the ground.  

The Title Chase

So Lewis Hamilton leads by just ten points after Monaco. I'm not going to write about how this could turn the tide in the title chase. As far as I'm concerned after his defeat in Spain, Lewis showed he isn't going to let anything side track him from dominating this campaign. He came to Monaco and went fast. Rosberg could do nothing to respond. This isn't a title battle yet, although they'll be some conspiracy theorists saying Mercedes did it deliberately. They didn't, it would've been a mistake, but this story will run. However, the main story should be how Lewis took defeat in Spain and used it to dominate the next time out. After this race he'll reset and come back stronger, don't be surprised if he crushes the opposition at the next race in Canada?

Result

1. Rosberg - Mercedes
2. Vettel - Ferrari
3. Hamilton - Mercedes
4. Kvyat - Red Bull
5. Ricciardo - Red Bull
6. Raikkonen - Ferrari
7. Perez - Force India
8. Button - McLaren
9. Nasr - Sauber
10. Sainz - Toro Rosso
11. Hulkenberg - Force India
12. Grosjean - Lotus
13. Ericsson - Sauber
14. Bottas - Williams
15. Massa - Williams
16. Merhi - Marussia
17. Stevens - Marussia
R. Verstappen - Toro Rosso - accident
R. Alonso - McLaren - gearbox
R. Maldonado - Lotus - brakes

Rosberg back to life with dominant Spain win

Star and winner of the race

You can't give star of the race to anyone else today. After everything Nico Rosberg has been through over the opening races to put in a performance like he did was seriously impressive. A brilliant pole position, a wonderful start, he was never troubled.

Might it have been different if Lewis Hamilton hadn't have lost second place at the start to Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari? Possibly but we'll never know. To my mind at least Rosberg looked to have the edge over his Mercedes team mate in Spain, so I think we can conclude that today was simply Rosberg's day. 

He had looked almost defeated after only four races in which Hamilton had beaten him severely each time out. Lewis was unrelenting and was crushing Nico. At least now Lewis knows he might just get a fight for this world title yet. Rosberg looked so relieved when he got out of the car, and I think many of the fans, even Lewis ones, will rejoice that we might actually get a fight for the title now.

Of course it's too early to say whether that will be the case. It's just one race and I'm sure this result will make Lewis more determined than ever to go flat out to beat Rosberg at the next event. However, the next event is Monaco where Rosberg has won for the past two years. Could this be the start of a title fightback? Monaco will reveal whether this was a flash in a pan or a sustained attack against the Hamilton juggernaut. 

The battles

Hamilton nearly dropped to fourth at the start but just about managed to fend Valtteri Bottas' Williams off to only lose the one position to Vettel. It cost him a potential fourth victory, but it did inspire a great tense battle between the #44 Mercedes and the lead Ferrari.

For lap after lap Hamilton hounded Vettel, although he thought it impossible to pass it didn't stop him trying, but despite being within a second most of the time to enable the DRS he just couldn't quite get alongside to make the move stick. At the first round of pit stops only an ill fitting tyre stopped him getting out ahead of Vettel who pitted one lap later.

It of course meant he was stuck once again but changing to a three stop strategy while most of the field were going with a two stopper vaulted him ahead of Vettel, but while they circled together it was a good fight.

It also showed what I like about DRS, that it can let someone get closer but doesn't always give them an easy pass when the cars are fairly equal. Having said that other battles down the field showed DRS to work a bit too well as the Toro Rosso cars were swamped as their lack of straight line speed left them sitting ducks with clipped wings ready to be rolled into a pancake.

Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen had loaded on the wing which made them great for overall lap time. They lined up fifth and sixth on the grid, but when the racing started they just couldn't stop people shooting past them. It was to Sainz's credit that he still managed to hold off the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat on the final lap to finish ninth. Verstappen fell to 11th.

Massa had a good short fight up the order from his ninth starting position. He made a great start but was squeezed out at turn two which dropped him back again, still he made a few decent passes to end up sixth. Kimi also battled his way up with a brilliant opening lap which took him to fifth from seventh. There he stayed until the end of the race despite catching Bottas late on to challenge for fourth, but he couldn't make it count.

The Lotus cars were involved in a few decent scraps too, not least one between them as Romain Grosjean clashed with Pastor Maldonado leaving the Venezuelan with a damaged rear wing. Despite looking strong once again, more contact, probably not his fault admittedly, left him with eventual retirement. It was left to Grosjean to pick up a now traditional eighth place. He's driving well despite a telling off from the team for not taking care of his gearbox. I've a lot of time for Grosjean and would like to see him step up to a bigger team if Lotus don't ascend soon.

All in all it was a fairly entertaining race, but not one that will last in the memory which apart from maybe Malaysia has been true of all the races so far this season. We need a spectacular one soon.
  
Things of note

I found it interesting that a lot was made of Kimi not having all the new tonne of parts that Ferrari brought with them. They were all to be found on the sister car of Vettel. Some in the F1 media are beginning to suspect that Vettel may have a no. 1 status line in his contract, something I'm not sure Kimi is entirely aware of and may find increasingly frustrating.

All in all it wasn't a great day for Ferrari despite their third and fifth result. Vettel ended the day over 45 seconds behind Rosberg. All these updates and it actually looked like they had taken a step backwards.

On the other hand a step forwards from Williams and Red Bull is to be welcomed. Williams were much more on the pace of at least Ferrari, so perhaps that final podium slot might see the red of the Scuderia replaced with the Martini colours of Williams.

Daniel Ricciardo came home seventh for Red Bull which doesn't sound like the best result in the world for a four time championship winning team, but the pace wasn't so bad. They're at least going in the right direction, they just need Renault to get their power unit in full working order.

McLaren looked to be making progress in qualifying with both cars in Q2 for the first time this year. Sadly the race turned out to be a shambles. Jenson Button complained the rear of the car felt like it wasn't connected to the front, these handling difficulties left him trailing in 16th. Alonso fared even worse when brake failure almost resulted in the Spaniard knocking his pit crew to the floor. There was some hope though as he ran as high as seventh at one point and reckoned a couple of points might have been a reward. They are targeting Monaco for a surprise result.

The title chase

Rosberg brought himself to just 20 points off Hamilton's lead in the drivers championship with victory. There's one reason from today's race why I think he's still fighting a battle he can't win. Once Lewis' final stop was done he was about 20 seconds off Nico.

His engineer Pete Bonnington got on the radio and said to turn the car down and just bring it home for second. Hamilton asked if it was possible to catch Rosberg, he was told it wasn't likely. He responded with so it's not impossible? 'Bono' as he is known said it was.

The next lap Lewis laps a second quicker than Rosberg. If there's even a small chance he's going to have a go. Admittedly a few laps later Lewis called off the fight when he realised he couldn't claw back his team mate, but it showed the very essence of the man, he just won't give up. If that situation had been Rosberg, he would have immediately followed his teams advice. 

It's looking more likely that Mercedes have got Ferrari under control for now. Although Vettel keeps on finishing on the podium so he's still up there, he has to start beating both Mercedes again if he's to stand a chance.

The Spanish result will give Rosberg some hope and impetus as he heads to Monaco. As I mentioned he's won for the last two years around the streets of the principality, if he can do it again it's game on, or at least it would be nice to think so.

Result

1. Rosberg - Mercedes
2. Hamilton - Mercedes
3. Vettel - Ferrari
4. Bottas - Williams
5. Raikkonen - Ferrari
6. Massa - Williams
7. Ricciardo - Red Bull
8. Grosjean - Lotus
9. Sainz - Toro Rosso
10. Kvyat - Red Bull
11. Verstappen - Toro Rosso
12. Nasr - Sauber
13. Perez - Force India
14. Ericsson - Sauber
15. Hulkenberg - Force India
16. Button - McLaren
17. Stevens - Manor Marussia
18. Mehri - Manor Marussia
R. Maldonado - Lotus
R. Alonso - McLaren - Brakes

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The Spanish Grand Prix Forecast

Round 5 - Spain, Circuit de Catalunya


Laps - 66

Pirelli Compounds - The Italian tyre firm are bringing their medium and hard ranges to Spain saying that like last year this race is likely to be a two stop strategy.

DRS Zones - As with most tracks there are two zones where the drivers can press their magic button and suddenly they get instant drag reduction, Spain being one of the places where this system was sorely needed. The pit straight and between turns 9 and 10 get these magical passing zones.

Weather - It's looking good for a dry race this weekend, which lets face it, is a bit of a shame. A nice bit of precipitation always makes things that bit more unpredictable. Temperatures will range from 27C to 24C with race day predicted to be on the lower end of that scale.

TV - Live on SkySports F1 with highlights on the BBC (lights out 1pm).

Pick a winner: I want to say Romain Grosjean, mainly for the fact that that would be a bit of turn up for the books. I can't though, I can't even suggest anyone other than Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. The British driver has been dominant so far this year, I don't think Rosberg has it in him to challenge consistently this year, he's looking nice in the support role. The Ferrari's will be lurking, they're definitely not to be discounted. If you're looking for a real challenge to Lewis, it's got to be either Kimi Raikkonen or Sebastian Vettel.

Hot  Topics:

The Spanish Grand Prix is the first race of the ever shorter European season. Traditionally it's where the first major upgrades are introduced. Ferrari have certainly come with a barrage of developments as they throw money at the car to try to get properly on terms with Mercedes. Mercedes have said they do not want to get into a spending war with the Italian team, but if the Scuderia are suddenly on equal terms I don't think it'll be long before Mercedes open up the cheque book if they want to retain their titles. Having said that I believe Mercedes to have just about enough of an advantage that they won't have to break the bank to stay ahead.

Red Bull have brought major updates, particularly a new nose. However, their power unit partner Renault have decided to focus on reliability rather than performance as they try to get back to the front. Honda haven't used any of their engine development tokens as McLaren try to get away from the back of the grid but they have assured that they have made changes. It'll be interesting to see if there's any shake up of the order but I'd hazard a guess that apart from McLaren maybe moving further towards the top 10 there won't be too many surprises. Of course the most obvious design change at McLaren is their livery, which please judge for yourself. McLaren haven't had a nice livery for a few years now. They still haven't.

Valtteri Bottas is rumoured to have signed a pre-contract with Ferrari. Whether that would be for next season or not is unconfirmed. Of course this has been denied all round. It also leaves Kimi's future uncertain as he looks for the team to take up his option for next year. This could just be the team using Bottas to help keep up Kimi's upturn in performance this year. Watch with interest.

Next years calendar is also bound to be talked about as it was announced that the opening round of the 2016 season in Australia will start on 3rd April fitting in 21 races up to the end of November. It's widely reported that this is meant to show the teams that they could do more races as the season usually starts early to mid march.

Currently the teams feel unable to manage more than 20 races. Personally I think 20 races is more than enough and that the sport would risk saturation. Grand Prix are meant to be special events but now they're just given to anyone with a dodgy human rights record. Ah, it must be the distinct lack of money as Formula 1's commercial rights holders fail to promote the sport in a positive light.

Susie Wolff was in first practice today for Williams finishing just .8 of a second slower than team mate for the morning Felipe Massa. She once again said she is more than capable of being the first woman to race in Formula 1 for 40 years. However, her racing record leaves nothing to be desired. She is a good driver but deserving of being in Formula 1? It was said on Skysports F1 that she would be a trailblazer for women, but surely women and motor sport fans in general would like to see someone whose truly earned her place in the sport by winning championships in junior formulae or at the least a few races. Plenty of men have reached F1 with less desirable back grounds, but would she even be ready to race? She hasn't since 2012. She'd be better off dovetailing her Williams commitments with a program in the WEC or even have a go at Formula E.

Predicting the headlines:

Alonso to get home points for McLaren Honda.

Vettel and Kimi to be close for Ferrari but not quite enough to properly challenge Mercedes.

Hamilton to push Rosberg further into support role.

Maldonado to get a point then crash as he celebrates.

Red Bull updates to help them up the grid but not enough while Renault still struggles.

Under the radar:

Hamilton still hasn't signed a new Mercedes contract. It's been 99.6% done for a while but still they stall. Lewis has made interesting comments recently about growing up loving Ferrari, he's also just take delivery of a new road going Ferrari and said in an interview he'd only know how good he is against Vettel if they were in the same team.

This might all be to pressure Mercedes into accepting what he wants, but they also have the best car at the moment and wouldn't find it hard to replace him. I'm sure they'll stay together, but it's a good rumour.

The title chase:

There needs to be someone pushing Lewis into the pack if this title battle is to come alive. I think Vettel is the most likely challenger, Rosberg is nearly defeated. Unless he can win in Spain or in Monaco where he has admittedly won the last two years, then I don't think he'll be launching a championship move this season.

Ferrari have thrown lots of new parts at the car, so if Vettel and Kimi can get closer we might have a fight on our hands. Practice seemed to show Ferrari at least within striking distance, but it was Lewis leading the way once again. He's in a serene state of mind, nothing can trouble him.

all photos from autosport.com

A look at the WEC

The next Formula 1 race is still a week away. In the meantime the fantastic LMP1 cars of the WEC are racing in the six hours of Belgium at the challenging Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The pole time was not far away from the times of Formula 1 race pace, these are seriously quick cars. Combined with LMP2 and the two GT classes this is a series which provides a taste of the Le Mans 24 hours, which starts in just over a months time.

I've already been able to experience watching these machines at Silverstone a few weeks ago. With many an ex-Formula 1 drivers including Mark Webber, Alexander Wurz and Anthony Davidson in the ranks as well as current Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg racing in Belgium and Le Mans, it was quite the mesmeric watch, especially as the LMP1 cars sliced through the GT cars. And although it's not easy to follow without a radio plugged into your ear, there was some good action. For a six hour race the LMP1 cars kept close to each other throughout with only 15 seconds separating the top three by the end. 

Here's a few pictures of a fine if windy race day at Silverstone.

The number 2 Toyota on the formation grid

Number 7 Audi getting a few last minute checks

Wurz gracefully getting out of his Toyota

World Champion Anthony Davidson calming everyone down

Mark Webber heads over to his pole sitting Porsche

Webber getting ready to lead the grid away

Sebastien Buemi taking the first stint in the No. 1 Toyota

Racing under way, the GT cars provided a lot of close action

No. 2 Toyota still with Wurz at the wheel.

Buemi staying near the front

It was close for a long time in the LMP1 class.

No. 8 Audi would fall back later on after challenging at the front.

Webber led the early going but a problem took the car out of the race

The Toyota didn't look as fast as the Audi or Porsche.

No. 7 Audi would swap the lead for a long way into the race.

The LMP1 cars just cut through the back-markers.

No. 18 Porsche kept the race alive.

Gulf sponsored Aston Martin looks great.

Davidson pushed hard to stay in contention.

Another look at the Aston.

No. 7 Audi despite late pit stop and penalty kept the lead.

No. 1 Toyota managed to get on the podium.

But the No. 7 Audi won, ahead of the 18 Porsche and 1 Toyota.

Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer & Benoit Treluyer take their rewards.

Michelin man watches as it's time for Champagne.